diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/mathstuff-filter-py3-scope.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/mathstuff-filter-py3-scope.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..48cacc05d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/mathstuff-filter-py3-scope.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+minor_changes:
+  - "mattstuff filter - fix py3 scope for unique filter errors"
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/filter/mathstuff.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/filter/mathstuff.py
index 71cd85ad9c..a0298a6494 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/filter/mathstuff.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/filter/mathstuff.py
@@ -62,12 +62,12 @@ def unique(environment, a, case_sensitive=False, attribute=None):
             else:
                 c = list(c)
     except TypeError as e:
+        error = e
         _do_fail(e)
     except Exception as e:
+        error = e
         _do_fail(e)
         display.warning('Falling back to Ansible unique filter as Jinja2 one failed: %s' % to_text(e))
-    finally:
-        error = e
 
     if not HAS_UNIQUE or error:
 
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/filters/aliases b/test/integration/targets/filters/aliases
index c974298bab..765b70da79 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/filters/aliases
+++ b/test/integration/targets/filters/aliases
@@ -1,2 +1 @@
 shippable/posix/group2
-skip/rhel8.0