Scottish Conservative Leader Douglas Ross says SNP health secretary Michael Matheson “cannot continue to hide” from questions that remain in relation to his £11,000 iPad data expense claim.
Douglas is calling for Scottish Parliamentary time to be set aside this week to allow for “full and frank” questioning on the scandal and has requested a ministerial statement be made by the Falkirk West MSP.
He says that the health secretary spent the weekend “dodging scrutiny” by failing to appear on the BBC’s Sunday Show and giving an ‘abrupt’ answer when he was doorstepped by the Mail on Sunday.
First Minister Humza Yousaf – who Douglas has written to over his involvement in the scandal – and Deputy First Minister Shona Robison also failed to appear on the flagship political show.
Douglas says a “significant” number of questions remain “wholly unanswered” by the health secretary following the “severely” limited time for questions after his personal statement last week.
He says the public have lost faith in Michael Matheson after he was shown to have lied to the press, despite knowing his children had used the parliamentary device for personal purposes.
The party’s chief whip Alexander Burnett will push for the statement to be agreed to at a meeting of the Parliament’s business managers tomorrow (Tuesday).
Scottish Conservative Leader Douglas Ross said: “Michael Matheson might have run up this eye-watering bill, but he cannot continue to run away from this scandal.
“He – and the other most senior members of the SNP Government – spent the weekend largely avoiding scrutiny and clearly hoping this scandal will just go away.
“That is wishful thinking when we know that the health secretary lied to the press and public over whether this parliamentary device had been used for personal purposes.
“His personal statement last week allowed a severely limited time for questioning. A significant number of questions remain wholly unanswered. That is why my party is calling for a substantial amount of Parliamentary time to be set aside to allow Michael Matheson to make another statement and for us to be allowed extensive questioning to get answers.
“The public have lost confidence in the health secretary at a time when our NHS is bracing itself for its worst winter ever. The whole government is distracted by this scandal, with Michael Matheson cancelling visits and interviews last week because he doesn’t want to be questioned on this.
“Until he resigns, or Humza Yousaf does the right thing and sacks him, my party will continue to use every method possible in Parliament to hold Michael Matheson to account for his lies and lack of answers.”