Matheson faces a 27-day suspension over the iPad scandal

Holyrood’s standards committee has recommended that former Scottish health secretary Michael Matheson be suspended from parliament for 27 days after his work iPad showed a bill for £11,000.

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

The proposals will now be put to a vote in parliament.

The iPad fees, which were initially covered by public funds, were incurred during a family trip to Morocco in late 2022.

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) has recognized Matheson, who resigned as health secretary in February.

Matheson initially claimed he only used the iPad for constituency work while on holiday, but later told parliament his sons had used it as a Wi-Fi hotspot to watch the Rangers-Celtic football match.

He apologized and paid the entire bill.

Matheson has previously said he will not step down as a Member of Parliament.

His constituents are unable to force a by-election by recalling him – which would be the case if an MP were suspended from Westminster for more than 10 days.

The chairman of the committee, Labor MP Martin Whitfield, said the sanction reflected the seriousness of Matheson’s breach of the MSP code of conduct.

“If it were not for mitigating factors, including the impact on the family member and his or her family, the proposed sanctions would likely have been greater,” he said.

The suspension of 27 days of meetings was recommended by committee member MP Annie Wells. He was supported by his Conservative Party colleague Oliver Mundell.

SNP members Jackie Dunbar and Alasdair Allan disagreed, with Allan describing the sanction as “extremely high” compared to those used in previous cases.

The deciding vote was made by the chairman of the committee, Mr. Whitfield.

He said: “I was not personally in favor of this option, but in my capacity as convener, recognizing that the committee would otherwise be unable to make a recommendation, I supported the proposal to exclude the 27-day sitting period.”

The committee unanimously recommended the withdrawal of wages for a period of 54 calendar days.

The ruling came after Matheson was found to have breached clauses of the MSP’s code of conduct, which state that members must “comply with the rules” of the SPCB and that “no payments or benefits paid to members for public purposes must be misused”.

The SPCB – which did not make any recommendations on a potential penalty – said the full report would be published after the commission’s announcement.

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

It is one of the harshest punishments ever handed down in the Scottish Parliament. Interestingly, charging 54 days’ pay is roughly equivalent to the amount of the data roaming bill at the heart of the line.

One of the four MPs on the standards committee has herself been expelled from Holyrood in the past.

In 2018, Annie Wells was suspended for a week after commenting on an embargoed prisoner voting report.

Her colleagues argued at the time that she merely commented on the report after being contacted by the media and did not disclose it.

But parliament had a different opinion. A five-day suspension seems to be the standard punishment for a leak. Former MPs Brian Monteith and Mike Pringle also faced the same sanction.

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

In 2008, Wendy Alexander was suspended for one day for failing to declare campaign contributions led by her party. Ultimately, the controversy led to her resignation.