Michael Matheson has sunk to a new low in the £11,000 data roaming scandal that brought him down.

The former SNP health secretary could have admitted straight away that he had made an expensive mistake and paid the money back from his six-figure public salary.

Instead, the Falkirk MSP chose to spin a torturous web of excuses before he was ultimately sanctioned by the Holyrood and temporarily suspended from Parliament.

But Matheson is still refusing to draw a line under this appalling affair.

In a recent interview, the whining MSP bleated that the row had been “blown out of proportion” and exploited by his political opponents.

This is the kind of arrogant attitude displayed by too many senior politicians which enrages members of the public.

Wasting huge amounts of taxpayers’ money has almost become almost routine for the SNP government and the other public bodies linked to it.

Scotland’s prosecution service spent years going after several individuals linked to the takeover of Rangers more than a decade ago.

That time and money resulted in precisely zero convictions and led to the then lord advocate making an ­unprecedented public apology for the handling of the investigation.

Those who faced wrongful arrest later sued the Crown Office and the final bill for the taxpayer could be north of £53million. The prosecution service still faces the prospect of a separate inquiry examining exactly what went wrong.

Rangers fans are far from the only ones left scratching their heads over what the entire episode has ultimately achieved.

But the Crown Office is far from alone when it comes to blowing taxpayers’ money in large quantities.

The Record today reveals how two anti-flooding chiefs have walked away with nearly £500,000 in publicly-funded golden goodbyes.

Sepa agreed the packages for Ian Buchanan and David Pirie despite ­criticism of damaging cuts at the quango.

As the taxpayer-funded environmental regulator, Sepa plays a key role in combating climate change and leading on the flooding alert system.

The body is not flush with cash and so wasting money on lavish exit packages is outrageous.

Scots workers are already the highest taxed in the UK. But despite relatively high levels of investment, many of our public services do not function as they should. We’re paying more for less and punters are becoming fed up with the arrogance of the SNP government.

If John Swinney is to win his own mandate as first minister next year, he needs to cut out the waste and start delivering.

He must also get rid of the time-serving moaners who dragged his party into the gutter.

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