Matheson given record Holyrood ban over iPad scandal

MSPs have agreed to hand Michael Matheson a record ban from parliament for breaching Holyrood's expenses policy.

The former Scottish health secretary - who racked up an £11,000 data bill for his parliamentary iPad - is to be banned from Holyrood for 27 sitting days and will have his salary withdrawn for 54 days.

Mr Matheson apologised and said he accepted parliament's decision.

The SNP did not vote for the sanction and called for a review of the complaints process, arguing it was open to bias and prejudice.

The punishment, recommended by the standards committee, was passed in the chamber by 64 votes in favour, with no votes against.

The SNP successfully amended the motion to include complaints about the process, before then abstaining from voting on the final amended version.

Mr Matheson, who quit the cabinet in February, said: "I apologise and regret that this situation occurred."

The former minister backed the call for the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body (SPCB) to carry out an independent review of the parliament's complaints process, “to restore integrity and confidence in the Parliament and its procedures”.

He added: "I look forward to continuing to represent the people of Falkirk West, as I have done for many years."

Mr Matheson will be suspended for more than five weeks - exceeding previous record bans of one month.

His salary penalty will be roughly equivalent to the £10,941.74 bill charged to his parliamentary device during a family holiday to Morocco between December 2022 and January 2023.

Mr Matheson eventually admitted the data bill had been run up by his children using his work device to watch football on holiday, after initially saying it had been used for constituency work.

The cost of the bill was initially picked up by the taxpayer before Mr Matheson agreed to pay it back from his own pocket.

The sanctions will come into force from Thursday.

Mr Matheson is to be barred from all proceedings in the chamber and committees, but not from the parliamentary estate.

He will not be able to return to proceedings until early September after MSPs return from summer recess.

The SNP amendment raised concerns that a Conservative member of the standards committee, Annie Wells, made “public pronouncements” about Mr Matheson previously.

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes, who tabled the amendment, told MSPs the “fundamental principle of natural justice” was at stake.

She said while she believed Ms Wells should have recused herself from the committee, she did not want to see any abuse or harassment of MSPs as a result of the process.

Intervening on the debate, Tory MSP Stephen Kerr accused the Scottish government of a "vindictive attack" on Ms Wells.

First Minister John Swinney - who described Mr Matheson as a friend - said he accepted parliament’s decision and was glad the amended motion recognised “deep flaws” in the process.

He said those concerns meant he was unable to support the sanctions.

Mr Swinney said he feared other MSPs who might in future “put a foot wrong” could be subjected to a “prejudicial process”.

He told reporters: “I wouldn’t like that done to me, so why should I turn a blind eye when it’s done to someone else?”

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said Mr Swinney “chose to support his friend and colleague in direct opposition to the Scottish public”.

“His actions are indefensible,” he added.

Unlike at Westminster, where MPs can be removed by constituents if they are suspended for more than 10 days, there is no recall mechanism at Holyrood.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said Mr Matheson’s constituents should be able to recall him.

She also accused Mr Swinney of undermining the integrity of parliament and “putting party before country”.

The first minister said he supported calls to set up a recall mechanism at Holyrood.

Mr Matheson was also the subject of a non-binding Scottish Conservative motion calling on him to resign from Holyrood “for misusing taxpayers’ money and making misleading statements”.

However, MSPs rejected that call after a successful Greens amendment removed the statement that Mr Matheson should quit. The amended motion was passed by 68 votes to 55.

After the bill was charged to Mr Matheson's iPad, it was agreed with parliament that the bill would be paid out of the public purse, including £3,000 from his own office cost allowance.

When details of the bill were reported in the press several months later in November 2023, Mr Matheson blamed the bill on an out of date sim card and insisted the device had been used exclusively for constituency work.

Following days of speculation he told parliament he had been informed by his family that his sons had used the iPad to set up a wifi hotspot to watch football games.

The SNP MSP apologised and agreed to pay back the bill personally.

He quit as health secretary in February after more than nine years in cabinet, ahead of the publication of a report by the SPCB which found he had breached the MSPs code of conduct.

The SPCB report was then considered by the cross-party standards committee. Labour MSP Martin Whitfield, the committee convener, said the proposed sanctions reflected the seriousness of Mr Matheson’s breach of the MSP code of conduct.

The SNP's position on the vote had been clouded in confusion since Mr Swinney unexpectedly stated last week that he would not vote for the sanctions.

But with the minority SNP administration potentially facing defeat after the Scottish Greens said they would not oppose the recommended punishment, the party lodged an amendment on Tuesday night which did not seek to change the sanction but called for an inquiry into parliament’s complaints process.

That fuelled speculation the SNP minority administration would not oppose the proposed sanction. But on Wednesday morning Mr Swinney reiterated that he would not support the sanction.

Ultimately, the SNP amendment passed with the support of seven Green MSPs and Liberal Democrat Willie Rennie.

SNP MSPs then abstained on the final amended motion - meaning they did not back the sanction while opposition MSPs voted for a review of the complaints process.