Voters will punish SNP for 'disgraceful defense' of Michael Matheson, says John Swinney

John Swinney said the Scottish Parliament's investigation into Michael Matheson was «biased»; Credit: PA/Michael Boyd 4223678de837.html?direct=true&id=bc72b371-0215-4d99-b27b-4223678de837&template=articleRendererHTML' class='tmg-particle Sticky-nav wrp-bc72b371-0215-4d99-b27b-4223678de837' title= Information business “General Elections” -type='editorial' loading='eager' scroll='no' Frameborder='0'allow='web-share' style='width: 100%; min-width: 100%; border: none; position: relative; display: block; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;'>

John Swinney has been warned that the Scottish National Party's general election campaign could be derailed by his «disgraceful defense» of Michael Matheson.

The Scottish Parliament's Procedure and Public Appointments Committee recommended that Mr Matheson be banned from entering Holyrood for 27 days for charging the taxpayer £11,000 in roaming charges he accumulated while on holiday.

But Mr Swinney said the parliamentary process into Mr Matheson was «biased» and said he would not support punishing his friend. He is due to be approved by a vote of all MPs next week.

His extraordinary decision overshadowed the start of the party's election campaign on Thursday, when the First Minister was challenged nine times in 10 minutes over the row.

< p>His extraordinary decision overshadowed the launch of the party's election campaign on Thursday.

p>

The Scottish National Party invited Kate Forbes, deputy first minister, for an interview on the second day of the campaign, but she was also repeatedly questioned about Mr. -not Matheson.

Speaking in Inverness, Ms Forbes said she supported Mr Swinney's decision and backed his claim that the committee's punishment was «biased» by the Tories.

She also insisted that the election comes at a “great moment” for the Scottish National Party, despite it being short on funds, and police on Thursday told prosecutors about Nicola Sturgeon's husband.

Peter Murrell was charged last month with embezzlement of party funds. The Crown Office said the investigation into Ms Sturgeon and Colin Beattie, the party's former treasurer, was ongoing.

Parliamentary Committee Scotland has recommended that Mr Matheson be banned from Holyrood for 27 days. Photo: Alami/Colin Fisher

Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, warned Mr Swinney that voters would punish the SNP at the ballot box for his support of Mr Matheson.< /p>

He said: “The SNP must sack Michael Matheson from the party and roll back its pathetic attempt to overturn the sanctions he faces for misusing taxpayers' money and lying to the press, the public and the Scottish Parliament. In any other job, Michael Matheson would have lost his job by now.

“John Swinney's disgraceful defense of the disgraced former health secretary left his Nationalist candidates in a terrible position on the first day of this campaign. »

Mr Matheson ran up a bill of £10,941.74 for his parliamentary iPad at Christmas 2022 during a family holiday in Morocco, where he had an outdated EE SIM card.

He then informed Holyrood authorities that all charges had been made against the constituency. Job. Parliament allowed him to use his taxpayer-funded expenses to fund the bill to the tune of £3,000, and provided the balance of £7,935.74 from his own budget.

Mr Matheson paid the money back from his own pocket on November 10 last year, two days after The Telegraph published the account. He told the media that the device was not used for personal purposes.

“Desperate attempts to justify claims of outrageous expenses.”

However, in a statement to MSP, he admitted that on November 9 he learned that his sons were using the iPad on Internet access point for watching football matches.

Mr Matheson finally resigned in February after the Scottish Parliament's cross-party corporate body concluded an investigation and concluded he had breached two sections of the MSP code. conduct.

The case was then referred to the standards committee and Annie Wells, a member of the Conservative Party, proposed a 27-day sentence. This was the final recommendation, despite opposition from two SNP members who considered it excessive.

In evidence of the claim that the result was biased, Mr Swinney quoted Ms Wells as saying in November last year that Mr Matheson's «desperate attempts to justify his claim of outrageous expenses were riddled with lies, cover-ups and the need for everything we must suspend our disbelief.»

But the committee, including SNP members, also unanimously recommended that Mr Matheson should not receive pay for 54 days.

Ms Forbes argued the «onus» was on the Scottish Parliament to respond to Mr Swinney's criticism. process.

She noted that Ms Wells had not resigned from the committee despite Stephen Kerr, another Conservative MP, having done so. He has also made critical public comments about Mr Matheson's conduct.