SNP reverses opposition to Michael Matheson’s suspension

Parliament will vote on the suspension of Michael Matheson after the SNP reversed its stance from last week and confirmed it would support the sanction.

The former health secretary faces 27 days’ suspension from parliament and 54 days’ pay cut for breaching the MSP’s code of conduct and expenses policy when he falsely claimed £11,000 in data roaming charges.

Parliament’s Standards Committee recommended the sanction last week after examining a report by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) which concluded that Matheson had failed to meet the standards of his office.

But at last week’s FMQ meeting, First Minister John Swinney spoke out against these sanctions, insisting that the outcome of the committee’s deliberations had been influenced by “bias”.

Now his party is doing a U-turn and is prepared to accept the recommendations, but will instead seek to amend the committee’s standard motion to highlight its concerns about the process.

The amendment, tabled by Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes, said the report risked being “biased and prejudiced and prejudging the complaint in advance, which would damage the reputation of Parliament”.

The debate and vote on the motion will take place on Wednesday afternoon.

Matheson will not be able to return to Parliament until after the summer recess.

The SNP’s decision followed an announcement by the Scottish Greens on Tuesday evening in which they confirmed their MSPs would support the sanctions. A spokesman said: “It remains right that Mr Matheson is held to account for his actions and our MSP group will vote for the sanctions that will exclude him from Parliament and forgo his salary.”

The debate will be followed by a separate debate chaired by Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, in which he will call on Matheson to resign as MSP.

Ross’ motion states: “The House considers that Michael Matheson should resign as MSP for misusing taxpayers’ money and making misleading statements.”

Matheson has repeatedly stated that he would not resign as MSP for Falkirk West and has continued to sit as an SNP backbencher since resigning from government in February.

Ross said: “Michael Matheson would have been fired for what he did in any other profession. That’s why opinion polls show that the vast majority believe he must go.”

However, given opposition from the SNP and the Greens, this motion is unlikely to pass.

Responding to the report last week, Matheson told reporters the process had been “highly politicized.” He also said he believed the proposed sanction was “excessive” and “unjust.”

The SNP MPs who sit on the Standards Committee – Alasdair Allan and Jackie Dunbar – had voted against the 27-day suspension, believing it to be unusually long. The pair lost in a vote, while the remaining three members of the committee (chairman Martin Whitfield and Tory MPs Annie Wells and Oliver Mundell) supported the bill.

However, the committee unanimously agreed that suspension and cancellation of salary was appropriate.

Swinney’s accusation of bias was based on the fact that Wells had not recused herself from examining the complaints despite public statements on the matter. Unlike her Tory colleague Stephen Kerr, he had stated that he felt he could not be impartial.

Matheson racked up the data roaming bill while on a family holiday in Morocco. He said he initially believed the parliamentary iPad was being used solely for parliamentary purposes and only later discovered his sons had been using the device as a hotspot for watching football.

He later paid the amount back.