Back home, disgraced MP freed in time for Brexit vote
DISGRACED MP Fiona Onasanya will be able to take part in a series of pivotal Brexit votes after being released early from jail yesterday.
She was allowed to leave her cell at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey only 28 days into a three-month sentence for perverting the course of justice.
The 35-year-old will be subject to strict curfews and tagging but could still return to Westminster to vote as an independent.
The former Jeremy Corbyn ally, who has been kicked out by Labour, refused to quit as a £77,000-a-year MP after being convicted at the end of January of lying to police about a speeding ticket. She maintains her innocence and has said she plans to cling on to the job as it is her only source of income.
Onasanya refused to answer questions at her £160,000 terraced home in Peterborough yesterday.
By refusing to step down, she has received at least £6,000 in pay while being held at all-female HMP Bronzefield. MPs can be automatically forced out only if they are sentenced to more than a year behind bars. However, a petition signed by 10 per cent of voters in her constituency would trigger a by-election.
This recall process has been put on hold because Onasanya, who qualified as a solicitor, is challenging her perjury conviction.
She will be forced to wear an electronic tag as part of her release under a ‘home detention curfew’.
It emerged yesterday that two police forces are investigating a series of racist emails and letters containing threats directed at Onasanya on the day she was jailed.