Michael Matheson faces 27-day suspension over iPad scandal

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Holyrood’s standards committee has recommended that Scotland’s former health secretary Michael Matheson be suspended from parliament for 27 sitting days after an £11,000 bill was racked up on his work iPad.

Holyrood’s standards committee also recommended the SNP MSP should not be paid his salary for 54 days.

The proposals will now be voted on by parliament.

The iPad charges, which were initially paid out of the public purse, were incurred during a family trip to Morocco in late 2022.

Mr Matheson, who resigned as health secretary in February, had been found in breach of MSPs code of conduct by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB).

Mr Matheson initially said he had used the iPad solely for constituency work while on holiday, but later told parliament his sons had used it as a wifi hotspot to watch a Rangers vs Celtic football match.

He apologised and paid back the bill in full.

Mr Matheson previously said he would not step down as an MSP.

His constituents are unable to force a by-election by recalling him – as would be the case for an MP being suspended for more than 10 days at Westminster.

Labour MSP Martin Whitfield, the committee convener, said the sanction reflected the seriousness of Mr Matheson’s breach of the MSP code of conduct.

“Had it not been for mitigatory factors, including the impact on the member and his family, the sanctions proposed would likely have been greater,” he said.

The suspension of 27 sitting days was recommended by committee member MSP Annie Wells. It was supported by Conservative colleague Oliver Mundell.

SNP members Jackie Dunbar and Alasdair Allan disagreed, with Mr Allan describing it as “extremely high” compared to sanctions in previous cases.

The deciding vote was made by the committee convener Mr Whitfield.

He said: “I did not cast my personal view in favour of the option but, in my capacity as convener, recognising that the committee would otherwise not have been in a position to make a recommendation, I supported the proposal for exclusion of a period of 27 sitting days.”

The committee was unanimous in recommending the withdrawal of salary for 54 calendar days.

The ruling came after Mr Matheson was found to have breached clauses of the MSP code of conduct which say members must “abide by the policies” of the SPCB and that “no improper use should be made of any payment or allowance made to members for public purposes”.

The SPCB – which made no recommendations about potential punishment – said its full report would be published after the committee’s announcement.

Mr Matheson cited the SPCB report when he quit cabinet in February after more than nine years as a cabinet minister.

This is one of the toughest punishments ever handed out in the Scottish Parliament. Interestingly, the withdrawal of 54 days worth of salary equates roughly to the amount of the data roaming bill at the heart of the row.

One of the four MSPs who sits on the standards committee has herself been banned from Holyrood in the past.

Annie Wells received a week long suspension in 2018 after commenting on an embargoed report about prisoner voting.

At the time her colleagues argued she had merely commented on the report after being contacted by the media, and had not leaked it.

But parliament took a different view. Five-day suspensions seem to be the standard punishment for leaking. Former MSPs Brian Monteith and Mike Pringle also faced the same sanction.

Month-long bans without pay were handed out to the Scottish socialist MSPs in 2005, when they disrupted chamber business by protesting about the G8 summit, and to the former SNP minister Mark McDonald for sexual harassment after he sent inappropriate text messages.

Wendy Alexander received a one-day suspension back in 2008 for failing to declare donations to her party leadership campaign. The controversy ultimately led to her resignation.

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