Summary

  • First Minister John Swinney says he will not support the standards committee's recommendation to suspend former minister Michael Matheson from parliament for 27 sitting days

  • He describes Matheson as a "good friend" and claims the process had been "prejudiced"

  • Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross says Swinney is "defending the indefensible" and says he will bring forward a motion calling for Matheson to resign

  • Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar describes Swinney’s defence of Matheson as “unbelievable and embarrassing”

  1. Background: Matheson faces 27-day suspension over iPad scandalpublished at 12:09 23 May

    Angus Cochrane
    BBC Scotland News

    Michael Matheson resigned as health secretary in FebruaryImage source, PA
    Image caption,

    Michael Matheson resigned as health secretary in February

    Holyrood's standards committee has recommended that Scotland's former health secretary Michael Matheson be suspended from parliament for 27 sitting days after an £11,000 bill was racked up on his work iPad.

    Holyrood's standards committee also recommended the SNP MSP should not be paid his salary for 54 days.

    The proposals will now be voted on by parliament.

    The iPad charges, which were initially paid out of the public purse, were incurred during a family trip to Morocco in late 2022.

    Read more here.

  2. Ross calls on Swinney to 'kick' Michael Matheson out of the SNPpublished at 12:07 23 May

    Douglas Ross

    There's no real surprise that Douglas Ross has opted to go on Michael Matheson.

    "Michael Matheson misused taxpayers money. He made a false claim for £11,000," says Douglas Ross.

    The Scottish Tory leader calls on the SNP to accept the full scale of the deceit and abuse of trust now it is proposed he is banned from sitting in parliament for 27 days.

    "Will John Swinney do the right thing and kick Michael Matheson out of the SNP and does the first minister accept the SNP were wrong to fully support Michael Matheson?"

  3. First Minister's Questions gets under waypublished at 12:03 23 May

    John Swinney sits poised in the hot seat and Douglas Ross gets to his feet to begin FMQs.

  4. The first FMQs after the date of the general election announcedpublished at 11:45 23 May

    Rishi Sunak announces date of general election

    John Swinney has FMQs to deal with today but there is also the small matter of a general election to deal with in just over a month’s time.

    A sodden Rishi Sunak announced yesterday evening that the UK electorate will be off to the polls on 4 July.

    That has not gone down particularly well with the SNP, who have accused the prime minister of “disrespect” for scheduling the ballot on the first week of Scotland’s school holidays.

    Mr Swinney said the decision showed the impact on voters north of the border “will not have been given a moment’s thought”.

    But there may be more to concern the new first minister.

    A recent YouGov poll showed support for the party sat at 29% - suggesting their cohort of MPs at Westminster could fall from 43 to 11.

    Labour stand to gain from those numbers, could stand to win up to 35 seats despite only having a single Scottish MP after the 2019 election.

    Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the country was “crying out for change “ under a government lead by his party.

    The Scottish Conservatives meanwhile vowed to “fight” the SNP’s dominance in Scotland, arguing it was an opportunity to end the party’s “obsession” with independence.

    Douglas Ross said only his party could beat the SNP “in key seats up and down Scotland”.

    And the Liberal Democrats also hope to make gains from the SNP in the Highlands, where the Lochaber, Skye and Wester Ross seat is their key target.

    Leader Alex Cole-Hamilton wants to take back the constituency, which was held by former Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy before he lost it to Ian Blackford in 2015.

    Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “People have had enough, it’s time for change and the Scottish Liberal Democrats are here for it.”

  5. Good morningpublished at 10:56 23 May

    John Swinney and Kate ForbesImage source, PA
    Image caption,

    First Minister John Swinney and Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes

    Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of this week's First Minister's Questions.

    This will be the first FMQs clash since the announcement of the general election, so the campaigning starts here.

    We'll provide reports and analysis throughout and you can of course watch here with us just click on the play icon at the top of the page.