Exclusive:SNP faces ‘self-inflicted injury’ as poll finds majority of Scots want Michael Matheson to quit

The SNP is facing “yet another self-inflicted injury”, a polling expert has said, after a new survey found a majority of Scots believe Michael Matheson should resign as an MSP and a recall system be rolled out at Holyrood.

The SNP MSP has insisted Mr Matheson will carry on as a constituency MSP for Falkirk West despite Holyrood’s most severe punishment being levelled at him for his iPad data roaming fiasco that tallied up almost £11,000 of expenses.

Michael Matheson faces a 27 day suspension from Holyrood. Pic: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

MSPs this week voted to strip Mr Matheson of his salary for 54 calendar days and to suspend him for 27 sitting days.

Mr Matheson has apologised, but insisted he looked forward to “continuing to represent the people of Falkirk West, as I have done for many years”.

A new poll by Savanta for The Scotsman has found 65 per cent of Scots believe Mr Matheson should quit as an MSP, 17 per cent believe he should remain at Holyrood and 18 per cent don’t know.

The poll also revealed that 67 per cent of Scots believe there should be a recall system at Holyrood that would allow constituents to trigger a by-election as certain standards issues are met. Westminster has a recall system that triggered the by-election that removed Covid rule-breaker Margaret Ferrier from office in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency.

Michael Matheson (Photo by PA)

Chris Hopkins, political research director at Savanta, said: “The Scottish public appear to have made up their mind – they believe that Michael Matheson should resign as an MSP.

“His scandal continues to dog John Swinney as it did for Humza Yousaf, and based on our research this issue isn’t likely to go away, even with Matheson since given a record Holyrood fine.

“Nearly six in ten SNP voters believe Matheson should step down, even with the SNP leader saying the process to investigate him was ‘prejudiced’. Ahead of an already difficult Westminster election, Matheson is yet another self-inflicted injury for the SNP.”

The poll comes after SNP net zero secretary Mairi McAllan insisted the episode relating to Mr Matheson was not “having cut-through” with the public.

She said the saga was a “political bubble issue” and “one which I think needs to be put to bed”.

Ms McAllan added: “I think he now needs to be allowed to take the sanction that he’s been handed and we need to forget about this issue.”

However, Sir Keir Starmer accused John Swinney of “picking up the Boris Johnson playbook” in his defence of Mr Matheson, as the Labour leader told journalists in Greenock he supported a recall petition being introduced in Scotland.

Scottish Conservative deputy leader Meghan Gallacher said: "These damning findings pour cold water on SNP minister Mairi McAllan's ludicrous claims that the Michael Matheson scandal is a political bubble story.

"Scots are furious at the disgraced former health secretary's lies to them, the press and Parliament over him claiming £11,000 of taxpayers' money and want him to do the right thing and resign as an MSP.

"They also rightly believe – as my colleague Graham Simpson has been pushing for – that Holyrood must have the power to allow voters to sack MSPs like Michael Matheson.”

The SNP was approached for comment.