Falkirk West MSP Michael Matheson agrees to reimburse full cost of £11,000 roaming charges

The Falkirk West MSP said on Friday he had “reflected long and hard” and would now pay back the full amount of £10,935.74.

The SNP minister had come under pressure in recent days after it emerged he racked up the large bill during a week-long visit to the African country around Christmas last year. He had initially said he would contribute £3000 towards the cost from his expenses budget and the Scottish Parliament would pay the rest.

Opposition politicians had said taxpayers should not have to foot the bill.

Mr Matheson had already told journalists that the bill was brought about by using “an outdated SIM card in an iPad that I had for constituency purposes”.

In a statement released at 5pm on Friday, Mr Matheson said: “I have contacted the Scottish Parliament authorities this afternoon to make arrangements to reimburse the full cost of the £10,935.74 incurred in roaming charges on my parliament iPad.

"While the Parliament agreed to pay the bulk of this sum as a legitimate expense, with the rest being med from my own office allowance, I have reflected long and hard and accept that the SIM card on this device should have been replaced at an earlier stage.

"Much of the speculation in the past couple of days has questioned my integrity, and I take this extremely seriously. I take equally seriously the reputation of the Scottish Parliament, of which I have always striven to be a diligent member since its restoration in 1999.

“It is my decision to reimburse these costs in full, which I believe in all the circumstances to be the right one. As well as being a constituency MSP, I have an important role as Health Secretary and the coming months will be challenging for our health service. I am determined to be fully focused on taking forward these responsibilities, and I assure the people of Falkirk West and across Scotland that their concerns are my priorities.”