The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)

‘Kick Matheson from party for breaking code’

- BY CRAIG PATON

The Scottish Conservati­ves have urged the first minister to remove the whip from Michael Matheson after he was found to have breached parliament­ary rules.

The Scottish Parliament­ary Corporate Body (SPCB), the crossparty group of MSPs tasked with the running of Parliament, said Mr Matheson broke the code of conduct for members in his handling of the near£11,000 data roaming bill he racked up on his parliament­ary iPad during a family holiday in Morocco.

Mr Matheson initially had the bill paid through a combinatio­n of his MSP expenses and offices costs, but he later resolved to pay it himself after pressure from opposition politician­s and the public.

The former health secretary, who quit the Cabinet last month, said in an emotional statement in November that his sons had used his device as a hotspot to watch football.

The issue has been referred to Holyrood’s Standards, Procedures and Public Appointmen­ts Committee, which will consider potential sanctions.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross has written to First Minister Humza Yousaf, urging him to kick Mr Matheson out of the SNP group at Holyrood.

Mr Ross wrote: “While you have defended your close friend and colleague throughout this scandal, it is clear to many that Michael Matheson should not continue to have your support through maintainin­g the SNP whip at Holyrood.

“You decided to punish Fergus Ewing by removing the SNP whip from him after he voted for a Scottish Conservati­ve motion of no confidence in the Green minister Lorna Slater.

“Further, the SNP have previously suspended the whip from Michelle Thomson after it was announced she was being investigat­ed for ‘alleged irregulari­ties’ relating to property transactio­ns – and this suspension was announced before the conclusion of this investigat­ion.

“I would suggest that lying to the public about trying to claim £11,000 from the public purse is significan­tly more serious than voting against a disastrous Green minister, so the only correct course of action is to remove the SNP whip from Michael Matheson immediatel­y.”

The SPCB probe, published on Thursday, found he had 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 SNP has been approached for comment.

 ?? ?? RULES BREACH: Michael Matheson’s constituen­cy office in Falkirk.
RULES BREACH: Michael Matheson’s constituen­cy office in Falkirk.
 ?? ?? Michael Matheson.
Michael Matheson.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom