Uh oh. In non-election news north of the border, the Scottish government’s former health secretary Michael Matheson has been handed both a suspension and salary ban after his rather humiliating £11,000 iPad scandal was exposed. As Mr S has written previously, Matheson has been in the doghouse for months after it was revealed he lied about his roaming bill and tried to make the taxpayer cover his costs. And now, it seems, he is finally getting his comeuppance…
Holyrood’s standards committee has today called for Matheson to be suspended for 27 days and the cross-party group also wants to see the backbencher’s salary withdrawn for 54 days — a fine that roughly equates to the size of the former minister’s data roaming charges. It’s one of the harshest punishments to be dished out by the committee, dependent now on whether parliament votes to approve it, and another blow for the rather beleaguered backbencher who has hardly been out if the news since it started.
But it might not the end of the road for the iPad scandal yet. At First Minister’s Questions this afternoon, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross told the Chamber that his party will bring forward a vote next week calling for Matheson’s resignation as an MSP which will, if successful, trigger a by-election in his politician’s Falkirk West constituency. With Matheson achieving a majority of over 11,800 in 2021, the SNP might hold onto the seat if it came to this — but the circumstances make for rather poor optics…
It’s more bad news for a Scottish National party that is on its third leader in 18 months while polling consistently suggests it will lose over half of its Westminster seats at the upcoming general election on 4 July. New First Minister John Swinney certainly has his work cut out…
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