Ex-minister Michael Matheson suspended from Holyrood over iPad roaming bill row

Former health secretary Michael Matheson has been suspended from the Scottish Parliament for 27 days and will lose his salary for 54 days after racking up a near-£11,000 data roaming bill.

Mr Matheson was found to have breached the MSP code of conduct by attempting to use expenses and office costs to cover the bill for a parliamentary iPad.

Later announcing he would cover the costs himself, Mr Matheson revealed the bill had been the result of his children using the device as a wifi hotspot to watch football during a holiday in Morocco.

Scotland’s first minister John Swinney has slammed the process to suspend Mr Matheson, labelling it “prejudiced” due to public comments made by members of the committee.