Tories threaten Matheson with vote of no confidence unless he hands over iPad

Health Secretary Michael Matheson has come under fire after running up a bill of almost £11,000 in data roaming charges on his iPad while on holiday.

Scottish Conservatives are threatening to bring a vote of no confidence against Michael Matheson if the Health Secretary fails to hand over the parliamentary iPad he used to run up bill of almost £11,000 while on holiday (Jane Barlow/PA)

The Tories have told Health Secretary Michael Matheson they will table a motion of no confidence in him if he fails to hand over the iPad he ran up almost £11,000 of charges on for scrutiny.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross argued that submitting the device to Holyrood IT experts is the only way that Mr Matheson’s claims can be verified.

He has now issued the Health Secretary with an ultimatum – saying unless he hands over the device for examination and makes a statement to MSPs in Holyrood on the matter, the Tories will seek to force a vote of no confidence.

Mr Ross said: “We need to get to the bottom of this saga once and for all, so the Scottish Conservatives are issuing the Health Secretary with an ultimatum – hand over the iPad, for the browsing history to be checked, and deliver a personal statement in Parliament explaining the full circumstances, or we’ll table a motion of no confidence.”

The Health Secretary has told how the bill of £10,935.74 in data roaming charges relates “solely to parliamentary and constituency-related work” that he carried out while on holiday in Morocco around Christmas time last year.

Mr Matheson has already pledged to pay back the charges in full, saying an “outdated” SIM card in the device had contributed to the high costs.

He has also insisted that the Parliament had “access to all of the data on the iPad when they looked at it back in January”.

Holyrood authorities however said they were “primarily looking at the volume of mobile data consumed” as they had been assured the device was being used to parliamentary purposes.

This scandal has dragged on for several days now and Michael Matheson is looking shiftier with each one that passes.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross

As a result, Mr Ross said the Health Secretary still has “serious questions to answer” over the matter.

The Conservative added that “suspicions will linger” unless Mr Matheson can provide evidence to show the costs were incurred while he was doing parliamentary work.

Mr Ross stated: “This scandal has dragged on for several days now and Michael Matheson is looking shiftier with each one that passes.

“He still has serious questions to answer, and suspicions will linger for as long as he fails to prove his claim that the enormous tab he expected taxpayers to foot was the product solely of parliamentary work.”

Mr Ross said it was “clear the Scottish Parliament officials have not examined the browser history of his iPad”, adding that this was “the only way Mr Matheson’s claims can be verified”.

The Conservative leader added: “This is about the integrity of a senior SNP cabinet minister.

“Twice Michael Matheson has appeared before journalists, and twice he has failed to give coherent answers to key questions. He must do so now.”

A spokesperson for First Minister Humza Yousaf said the government would “of course” back Mr Matheson if there is to be a confidence vote in the Health Secretary.

Meanwhile, an SNP spokesperson said: “This is simply an attempt to keep a story going, days after Mr Matheson has done the right thing and agreed to foot the bill personally.

“While we are focused on crucial issues such as steering our health service through the winter, the Tories only ever want to talk about process issues.”