No further police action over new Matheson iPad bill complaint

Image source, PA Media

Image caption, Michael Matheson is currently suspended from the Scottish Parliament

Police Scotland is taking no further action following a second complaint against Michael Matheson over his iPad data roaming bill.

The former health secretary is currently serving a record ban from Holyrood after he was found to have broken the code of conduct for MSPs over an 拢11,000 bill, which was initially met from the public purse.

An initial complaint was dealt with by Police Scotland in November last year, and officers were assessing another made last month.

However, the force has now confirmed that no further action will be taken.

The bill was racked up on an official device during a family holiday to Morocco. He later admitted it was caused his sons using it as a hotspot to stream a football match.

Mr Matheson apologised and accepted the Holyrood sanction last month.

His party did not vote for the punishment and First Minister John Swinney demanded a review of the complaints process over claims of bias from Conservative standards committee member Annie Wells.

The SNP did successfully amend the motion to include complaints about the procedure, but abstained from voting on the final version.

Mr Matheson's suspension for more than five weeks is a record for the Scottish Parliament.

His salary penalty will be roughly equivalent to the 拢10,941.74 bill charged to his parliamentary device during the holiday between December 2022 and January 2023.

The cost of the bill was initially picked up by the taxpayer before Mr Matheson agreed to pay it back from his own pocket.

The sanctions were enforced from last Thursday.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has repeatedly called for Mr Matheson to resign.