Michael Matheson, the embattled Scottish Health Secretary, is facing a no confidence vote and a Holyrood debate amid fresh calls for him to resign over his iPad bill “cover-up”.
The Scottish Conservatives said too many questions remain unanswered almost a fortnight since the scandal erupted, and urged the SNP to agree to demands for a debate in the Scottish Parliament.
Mr Matheson claimed on Thursday that a data roaming charge of almost £11,000 was caused by his teenage sons watching football while on a family holiday in Morocco.
Despite learning this a week earlier, he continued to insist the device had only been used for parliamentary work and did not inform Humza Yousaf, the First Minister, of the truth until five days later, on Tuesday Nov 14.
Mr Yousaf appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House programme on Sunday and was asked if Mr Matheson misled him.
“No, I don’t believe Michael did,” he said.
The First Minister admitted his Health Secretary could have handled the situation better, but said he had apologised for that.
He added that Mr Matheson had only used the iPad for parliamentary purposes and did not discover his sons’ use of the device until Thursday Nov 9.
“There’s a legitimate question that people have asked, and Michael addressed last week, around whether he at that point should have been upfront publicly around the fact that was the reason that he was choosing to repay the entire bill,” said Mr Yousaf.
“He was trying to protect his children. For me, Michael – who I have known for well over 15 years – is a man of integrity, honesty.”
Mr Ross said the scandal was impacting the entire SNP government amid newspaper reports that some members of Mr Matheson’s own party believe he should fall on his sword.
Speaking on BBC One’s The Sunday Show, the Tory leader indicated his intention to seek a motion of no confidence in Mr Matheson at Holyrood, and added that only his party had the numbers to bring forward a vote.
Mr Ross said: “This scandal is now impacting on the whole SNP government – not just a Health Secretary who is ditching ministerial engagements to lie low.
“[Mr Matheson] simply cannot continue as Health Secretary and the longer he does, the more his position in government becomes a distraction for Humza Yousaf and the SNP.”
**‘Barefaced lie’**
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, also appeared on The Sunday Show and repeated his call for the Health Secretary to resign.
“This is not about the data, it’s not about his family – this is about him misleading the public. That is why I think he should resign.”
It emerged earlier this month that Mr Matheson racked up a total bill of £10,935.74 after taking his parliamentary iPad on the family holiday over the New Year.
The cost was initially set to be picked up by the Scottish Parliament, but the Health Secretary has since paid the money back and referred himself for further investigation.
The calls for him to resign centre on Mr Matheson’s public claims that none of the bill was down to personal use, despite knowing otherwise. He claimed on Thursday that he withheld the truth from journalists to protect his family.
Dame Jackie Baillie, deputy leader of Scottish Labour, told The Mail on Sunday it was “a deliberate and barefaced lie” by one of the most senior members of the SNP government.
The controversy has also prompted calls for an independent adviser on ministers’ interests, with responsibility for ethics in government, to be established north of the border.
“The dishonesty is a major issue. We need an office similar to that in London but with teeth,” James Mitchell, professor of public policy at Edinburgh University, told The Sunday Times.
While it’s the Tories that are saying they’ll call for such a vote it might be a good chance for Scottish Labour to pay the SNP back in their own coin after the latter’s attempt at staging multiple Gaza votes at least partly with the intention of cornering and embarassing Labour MPs and MSPs.
Aaargh!!!! This story is on Reddit every five minutes!!!!!
>Mr DRoss said the (£11K) scandal was impacting the entire SNP government…
Ok.
>The cost was initially set to be picked up by the Scottish Parliament, but the Health Secretary has since paid the money back and referred himself for further investigation.
Good.
I’ll be interested to see if the SNP whip this vote if their are many, or any rebellions. If they all circle the wagons around him then they really can’t criticise any party for doing the same when someone else does something wrong.
As predictable as it was avoidable.
Humza and his advisors are clearly lacking the political nous of their predecessors.
Matheson should have resigned once the cover-up and subsequent lies were exposed. But no – so here we are.
Jesus Christ, they rode us for literally billions with their yachts and “fast track” PPE channels – and the SNP go down over a camper van and a football game on the internet.
We (Scots) are a nation of fucking gullible idiots.
Yousaf should be facing censure as well, he’s doubling down on “Nothing to see here, people!” when there most certainly is.
WTF is it with politicians?
Instead of sticking up their hands and saying they’ve been silly and take what comes they’ve got to deny and dig a hole which only gets deeper the more they deny.
Grow the fuck up!
>28 December – More than £2,000 is charged to Michael Matheson’s parliamentary iPad
>2 January – Two separate charges to the iPad add up to over £8,000
>8 November – The Telegraph runs the story about the £11,000 data roaming bill
>9 November – Mr Matheson says it was around this time he became aware it was his sons who racked up the bill. The first minister says it was a legitimate cost and Mr Matheson should not have to pay it back
>10 November – The health secretary says he will pay back the full cost of the bill, but insists he was using it for constituency work
>14 November – Mr Matheson says he told Humza Yousaf it was his children who ran up the bill
>15 November – The Scottish Parliament release a breakdown of the data usage and people begin to point out it could be related to football games
>16 November – In a statement to the Scottish Parliament, Mr Matheson admits the £11,000 data roaming charge on his iPad was caused by his sons watching football, and says he did not mention it in his previous statement to protect his children
So a few things here.
First is Matheson’s initial claim re it all being parliamentary work. The ipad needs to be reviewed as does his diary to see if any work was actually done on those dates. If none was then this is straight up fraud and he should be prosecuted.
He has lied on 10 November. He has to go. Simply inexcusable to lie to parliament and the public. His excuse re his children makes no sense.
14 November HY knew M had lied. Nothing is done about it until two days later after the foi shows the correlation with football. HY did not retract or clarify his position. HY has assisted in misleading the house and parliament.
At best this is naked dishonesty from the FM and his minister, at its worst it is attempted fraud.
If he had let his children run up a large bill by accident and then paid it, a minor problem and not a resigning matter.
But he did not. He lied and HY backed him up in the lie and helped him maintain it until an FOI forces their hand.
12 comments
(Article)
—
Michael Matheson, the embattled Scottish Health Secretary, is facing a no confidence vote and a Holyrood debate amid fresh calls for him to resign over his iPad bill “cover-up”.
The Scottish Conservatives said too many questions remain unanswered almost a fortnight since the scandal erupted, and urged the SNP to agree to demands for a debate in the Scottish Parliament.
Mr Matheson claimed on Thursday that a data roaming charge of almost £11,000 was caused by his teenage sons watching football while on a family holiday in Morocco.
Despite learning this a week earlier, he continued to insist the device had only been used for parliamentary work and did not inform Humza Yousaf, the First Minister, of the truth until five days later, on Tuesday Nov 14.
Mr Yousaf appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House programme on Sunday and was asked if Mr Matheson misled him.
“No, I don’t believe Michael did,” he said.
The First Minister admitted his Health Secretary could have handled the situation better, but said he had apologised for that.
He added that Mr Matheson had only used the iPad for parliamentary purposes and did not discover his sons’ use of the device until Thursday Nov 9.
“There’s a legitimate question that people have asked, and Michael addressed last week, around whether he at that point should have been upfront publicly around the fact that was the reason that he was choosing to repay the entire bill,” said Mr Yousaf.
“He was trying to protect his children. For me, Michael – who I have known for well over 15 years – is a man of integrity, honesty.”
Mr Ross said the scandal was impacting the entire SNP government amid newspaper reports that some members of Mr Matheson’s own party believe he should fall on his sword.
Speaking on BBC One’s The Sunday Show, the Tory leader indicated his intention to seek a motion of no confidence in Mr Matheson at Holyrood, and added that only his party had the numbers to bring forward a vote.
Mr Ross said: “This scandal is now impacting on the whole SNP government – not just a Health Secretary who is ditching ministerial engagements to lie low.
“[Mr Matheson] simply cannot continue as Health Secretary and the longer he does, the more his position in government becomes a distraction for Humza Yousaf and the SNP.”
**‘Barefaced lie’**
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, also appeared on The Sunday Show and repeated his call for the Health Secretary to resign.
“This is not about the data, it’s not about his family – this is about him misleading the public. That is why I think he should resign.”
It emerged earlier this month that Mr Matheson racked up a total bill of £10,935.74 after taking his parliamentary iPad on the family holiday over the New Year.
The cost was initially set to be picked up by the Scottish Parliament, but the Health Secretary has since paid the money back and referred himself for further investigation.
The calls for him to resign centre on Mr Matheson’s public claims that none of the bill was down to personal use, despite knowing otherwise. He claimed on Thursday that he withheld the truth from journalists to protect his family.
Dame Jackie Baillie, deputy leader of Scottish Labour, told The Mail on Sunday it was “a deliberate and barefaced lie” by one of the most senior members of the SNP government.
The controversy has also prompted calls for an independent adviser on ministers’ interests, with responsibility for ethics in government, to be established north of the border.
“The dishonesty is a major issue. We need an office similar to that in London but with teeth,” James Mitchell, professor of public policy at Edinburgh University, told The Sunday Times.
While it’s the Tories that are saying they’ll call for such a vote it might be a good chance for Scottish Labour to pay the SNP back in their own coin after the latter’s attempt at staging multiple Gaza votes at least partly with the intention of cornering and embarassing Labour MPs and MSPs.
Aaargh!!!! This story is on Reddit every five minutes!!!!!
>Mr DRoss said the (£11K) scandal was impacting the entire SNP government…
Ok.
>The cost was initially set to be picked up by the Scottish Parliament, but the Health Secretary has since paid the money back and referred himself for further investigation.
Good.
I’ll be interested to see if the SNP whip this vote if their are many, or any rebellions. If they all circle the wagons around him then they really can’t criticise any party for doing the same when someone else does something wrong.
As predictable as it was avoidable.
Humza and his advisors are clearly lacking the political nous of their predecessors.
Matheson should have resigned once the cover-up and subsequent lies were exposed. But no – so here we are.
Jesus Christ, they rode us for literally billions with their yachts and “fast track” PPE channels – and the SNP go down over a camper van and a football game on the internet.
We (Scots) are a nation of fucking gullible idiots.
Yousaf should be facing censure as well, he’s doubling down on “Nothing to see here, people!” when there most certainly is.
WTF is it with politicians?
Instead of sticking up their hands and saying they’ve been silly and take what comes they’ve got to deny and dig a hole which only gets deeper the more they deny.
Grow the fuck up!
From the BBC here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67467075
>28 December – More than £2,000 is charged to Michael Matheson’s parliamentary iPad
>2 January – Two separate charges to the iPad add up to over £8,000
>8 November – The Telegraph runs the story about the £11,000 data roaming bill
>9 November – Mr Matheson says it was around this time he became aware it was his sons who racked up the bill. The first minister says it was a legitimate cost and Mr Matheson should not have to pay it back
>10 November – The health secretary says he will pay back the full cost of the bill, but insists he was using it for constituency work
>14 November – Mr Matheson says he told Humza Yousaf it was his children who ran up the bill
>15 November – The Scottish Parliament release a breakdown of the data usage and people begin to point out it could be related to football games
>16 November – In a statement to the Scottish Parliament, Mr Matheson admits the £11,000 data roaming charge on his iPad was caused by his sons watching football, and says he did not mention it in his previous statement to protect his children
So a few things here.
First is Matheson’s initial claim re it all being parliamentary work. The ipad needs to be reviewed as does his diary to see if any work was actually done on those dates. If none was then this is straight up fraud and he should be prosecuted.
He has lied on 10 November. He has to go. Simply inexcusable to lie to parliament and the public. His excuse re his children makes no sense.
14 November HY knew M had lied. Nothing is done about it until two days later after the foi shows the correlation with football. HY did not retract or clarify his position. HY has assisted in misleading the house and parliament.
At best this is naked dishonesty from the FM and his minister, at its worst it is attempted fraud.
If he had let his children run up a large bill by accident and then paid it, a minor problem and not a resigning matter.
But he did not. He lied and HY backed him up in the lie and helped him maintain it until an FOI forces their hand.
Both men should resign. Completely unacceptable.
51, yes, 51 posts today.
I hope his kids divorce him, too.