SNP’s disgraced Michael Matheson refuses to quit as MSP over iPad scandal

A defiant Michael Matheson has insisted he will not resign as an MSP as he returned to Holyrood for the first time since quitting as health secretary over charging the taxpayer for an £11,000 roaming bill.

The disgraced Falkirk West MSP said he would await the verdict of the Scottish Parliament’s standards committee, which is scheduled to meet on Thursday afternoon to start considering his punishment.

This could include him being suspended from Parliament, piling pressure on him to resign as an MSP. However, Humza Yousaf has also insisted he should not resign, a move that would trigger a by-election.

Mr Matheson declined to say if he would refuse to take a £13,000 golden goodbye he is entitled to claim from the public purse 90 days after leaving ministerial office.

He walked away from the media, also refusing to answer questions about why he was absent from Holyrood last week while still conducting constituency work.

Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, said: “As he has done throughout this scandal, Michael Matheson smirked as he avoided answering key questions over the lies he told and his attempts to get the taxpayer to foot the bill for his data charges.

“It’s telling that, despite weeks of evading scrutiny, the only question he chose to answer was the one confirming that he won’t do the decent thing and resign as an MSP.”

Mr Matheson was asked whether he would resign as he left the SNP group meeting at Holyrood on Tuesday lunchtime.

He said: “No, and as you know there is a standards process at the moment and I’m going to respect the confidentiality of that process and I look forward to the process being completed shortly.”

The former health secretary racked up the £10,935.74 bill for his parliamentary iPad over Christmas 2022 during a family holiday in Morocco. He then told Holyrood’s authorities the charges were all in respect of constituency work.

Holyrood allowed him to use his taxpayer-funded expenses to fund £3,000 of the bill and provided the £7,935.74 balance from its own budget.

Mr Matheson paid back the money from his own pocket on November 10 last year, two days after The Telegraph disclosed the bill. He told the media there had been no personal use of the device.

However, in a statement to MSPs, he admitted he had found out on November 9 that his sons had used the iPad at an internet hotspot to watch football matches.

Mr Matheson finally resigned as health secretary last month after the Scottish Parliament’s ruling corporate body (SPCB) completed its investigation. He had been informed he would shortly be handed a copy of the report.

It emerged earlier this month that the SPCB concluded he breached two sections of the MSP code of conduct.

It is understood the full report was handed to the standards committee on Tuesday. It will be published after the committee decides on its sanction, probably after Holyrood returns from its Easter break.