Michael Matheson, Scotland’s former Health Secretary, faces a salary suspension and a 54-day suspension from his duties as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP).
This action comes after he was found to have incorrectly claimed £11,000 in expenses for streaming football matches while on vacation.
The Holyrood standards committee, responsible for overseeing parliamentary conduct, deemed these sanctions necessary due to Matheson’s violation of expense and conduct regulations.
On Thursday, May 23, the committee criticized Matheson for lacking transparency and accountability.
The expenses in question were purportedly for mobile data used on his parliamentary iPad.
Matheson said this data usage occurred because his sons streamed football matches during a holiday in Morocco.
During a heated session of the First Minister’s Questions, SNP leader John Swinney stood in staunch support of his “friend and colleague,” Michael Matheson.
Swinney vowed not to endorse the sanction imposed on Matheson, alleging bias in the decision-making process.
His backing drew criticism from Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who accused Swinney of “demeaning himself and the office of First Minister”.
Sarwar’s rebuke came after Swinney asserted that Scottish Conservative members of the standards committee had already formed opinions on the matter, tarnishing the reputation of the Parliament.
“Michael Matheson has made mistakes, he resigned from the cabinet, he lost his job as a member of the cabinet and he paid the roaming costs in question. There was no cost to the public purse and as a consequence of the issues that have been raised here about the conduct of this process I do not believe that this is a sanction that can be applied.”
John Swinney
Martin Whitfield, the chair of the committee, affirmed that it had upheld the decisions of a previous investigation conducted by the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body (SPCB).
The SPCB holds ultimate authority over Holyrood’s regulations and its code of conduct, determining that Michael Matheson failed to meet the expected standards for Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs).
“The obligations all members have under the code, the expenses scheme, and relevant SPCB policies are of paramount importance in upholding the integrity of the scheme and the ethical standards framework [that] underpin the conduct of parliamentary duties.”
“Any failure to meet those obligations has an adverse impact on the reputation of the expenses scheme, members, and the parliament as a whole.”
Martin Whitfield
Oliver Mundell, a Tory MSP on the committee, said he would have supported a longer suspension. Ordinary voters “would not look kindly on a short suspension when many in the real world would have faced the very real possibility of losing their job in the same circumstances.”
Matheson’s Violations and Expenses Investigation Details
In March, the SPCB concluded that Michael Matheson violated two sections of the MSPs’ code of conduct in four distinct ways, upholding three complaints against him.
Firstly, Matheson made an improper claim for expenses. Secondly, he failed to ensure that his iPad was exclusively used for parliamentary purposes. Also, he failed to investigate why his claim was so large in the first place.
Additionally, Matheson withheld knowledge of the claim’s illegitimacy from parliament for seven days.
Further investigation revealed Matheson was operating on an outdated EE data contract, resulting in him incurring the highest possible mobile usage charges.
After extensive deliberation, Holyrood agreed to cover £8,000 of the expenses through its scheme and permitted Matheson to cover the remaining £3,000 from his office expenses.
The standards committee emphasized that although Holyrood officials should have ensured Michael Matheson had an updated SIM card installed in his iPad, Matheson himself neglected to obtain clearance for its use overseas.
The committee stated that Matheson was fully responsible for how the iPad was used.
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