Michael Matheson, the Scottish National Party's health minister, leaves the chamber after making a personal statement in the Scottish Parliament. Photo: JEFF J MITCHELL/GETTY
The Scottish National Party health minister blamed his teenage sons for costing him £11,000 roaming charges while on holiday as he tried to keep his job.
Michael Matheson told the Scottish Parliament he only discovered the reason for the unusual £10,935.74 bill when he returned home last Thursday, more than 10 months after a family holiday in Morocco.
In a personal statement , during which he repeatedly fought back tears, he said the «simple truth» was that his two teenage sons were using the device's Internet hotspot to «watch football games.»
The Minister of Health lied. told reporters on Monday this week that the iPad had not been used for personal purposes — four days after he said he had revealed the truth — as he and First Minister Humza Yousaf faced allegations of a cover-up.
But Mr Matheson insisted he was not aware his sons were using iPads either while on holiday or after he returned when he struck a deal with Holyrood authorities which meant the taxpayer had to foot the bill.
< p>After assurance When he used the iPad solely for constituency matters, Parliament allowed him to use his taxpayer-funded spending to fund the £3,000 bill. Holyrood funded the balance of £7,935.74 from its own budget.
Mr Matheson only agreed to pay the money back from his own pocket after The Telegraph published the account last week. His annual salary is £118,511.
Mr Yusuf on Thursday fought to save his close ally, insisting Mr Matheson was an «honest and decent man» who had done «honest mistake.»
But Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader, said “the new justifications we have just heard are not credible”, calling on Mr Matheson to resign or be sacked by Mr Yusaf.
The Health The Secretary of State faces a vote of no confidence at Holyrood next week.
High levels of data use on Celtic match days
Mr Ross questioned Mr Matheson's claim that he could not understand why the cost was “so high” and that network provider EE “failed to provide further information about what led to the charges.”< /p>
However, the Energy Efficiency Charges Bill, dated February and unveiled this week, contains a breakdown that has led many to immediately conclude that they were punished for watching football.
2 January, the day of the Old Town match firm between Rangers and Celtic, the bill showed 3.18GB of usage — more than half of the holiday total — at a cost of £7,345.69.
Michael Matheson earned more than £8,500 in roaming fees on January 2, the day Rangers and Celtic faced each other. Photo: Richard Callis/MB Media
A further 1.26GB of data was used on December 28 for £2,249.17. It was the same day Hibs played Celtic. Mr Matheson said he did not watch football and did not know his sons were watching.
Mr Ross said: “This parliamentary code of conduct requires MPs to be honest. Michael Matheson failed this basic test. He charged taxpayers an £11,000 bill that he should have paid himself.
“When Michael Matheson made this statement, he must have known it was false. But when this claim was questioned by Parliament, it declared it to be legal. He gave written assurances to Parliament that this was legal. This promise was broken. Parliament was misled.”
Matheson was accused of “covering up wrongdoing.”
Dame Jackie Bailey, deputy leader of Scottish Labor, said: “It is simply incomprehensible that Michael Matheson thinks he can keep his job by deceiving the public. and parliament over his actions.
“Michael Matheson said that the bill was accumulated as a result of the conduct of parliamentary business — this is clearly not true.”
Claiming that he cannot continue to serve as a minister Health Services, she added: “Ultimately this was an attempt to cover up wrongdoing which would have cost the taxpayer £11,000.”
Mr Matheson used his statement to describe how he traveled to Morocco on December 27 last year with his wife Susan and two sons, believed to be promising footballers.
He admitted he had not updated SIM card in his iPad as instructed by Parliament and he did not follow protocol to consult Holyrood IT about connecting to the relevant roaming package.
The next day when he received 2 £249.17 charge, he contacted Parliament's IT department and stated that his parliamentary phone was not working, but his iPad was working.
He said they reported that “they checked.” with the network operator, who explained that my data package was suitable for use in Morocco.»
Matheson is unaware of the costs while on holiday
After being informed about the bill on his return in January, he said that it is unclear to him what led to the charges, since “I did not use the iPad for any purpose other than parliamentary and election purposes.”
Mr Matheson insisted that E.E. cannot give any explanation, but has volunteered to “contribute” with his expenses. There were no further developments until The Telegraph newspaper published the bill last week.
“It was at this point, last Thursday evening, when I returned home, that my wife told me that others members of our family used iPad data,” he said.
“This was the first time I knew that the data was being used by someone else. I had checked this before, but the truth only came out after the story hit the news.”
Referring to his sons, he said: “I should have pushed harder. Perhaps I should have been less willing to believe what I was told.»
Mr Matheson said he accepted responsibility for collecting the data and he and his wife «took an immediate decision to reimburse Parliament for the costs for data transfer.» full price.»
He said he didn't mention his family last Friday when he announced the refund because «I wanted to protect them from the political and media attention associated with this, which I think any parent would want to do.» /p>First Minister retains confidence in Health Secretary
Mr Matheson said: “I am a father first and foremost. It was a mistake and I'm very sorry. I now understand that it is impossible to explain the use of data without explaining its role. Presiding officer, the simple truth is that they were watching football matches.”
But he said he did not tell Mr Yousaf until Tuesday, and said he had placed himself under investigation for breaching the MSP code of conduct . He denied he had resigned.
The report raised further questions about the First Minister's decision after he insisted last week that Matheson would not have to pay back the money.
Speaking earlier in response to the minister's questions, Mr Yousaf said he had «absolute confidence» in Mr Matheson and said he should be given the «presumption of innocence».
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