NOT EVEN CHURCH WAS SAFE FROM FERRIER
Disgraced MP gave a gospel reading just 24 hours after developing symptoms of deadly coronavirus
COVIDIOT SNP MP Margaret Ferrier gave a reading in church the day after developing coronavirus symptoms.
She has been urged to quit after travelling from to London to Glasgow on the train following a positive Covid test.
DISGRACED Margaret Ferrier attended a church service 24 hours after she developed symptoms for coronavirus, it has emerged.
The shamed MP, who has been urged to quit for making an 800-mile round trip with Covid, also gave a reading at a mass in Glasgow.
She has been accused of taking a “deliberate gamble” with people’s health and putting priests and worshippers’ lives at risk.
Labour MSP Monica Lennon said: “Not even a place of worship was safe from this MP’s selfish and dangerous actions.
“There is no end to Margaret Ferrier’s recklessness. The SNP must terminate her membership and resign her seat.”
Ferrier – elected as the SNP MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West in December – last week admitted she had travelled while suffering from Covid.
In a statement, she said she took a test on Saturday, September 26, after developing coronavirus symptoms.
She should have gone into selfisolation but confessed to travelling to Westminster by train two days later.
After receiving a positive result on Monday, September 28, she jumped on the train back to Glasgow the next morning and exposed fellow passengers to the virus.
Ferrier was suspended from the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon blasted her “reckless, dangerous” actions. The First Minister also urged Ferrier to quit as an MP and police have launched an investigation.
The Record can reveal Ferrier attended a public mass at St Mungo’s, a Catholic church in the Townhead area of Glasgow, on September 27. This was the day after she took a Covid test.
A source said the £81,932-a-year MP sat near the front of the church and made a five-minute gospel reading from the altar. Church services are heavily restricted under coronavirus rules and limits are placed on numbers. The St Mungo’s website says no more than 50 people can attend a public mass at the church and places are allocated via a booking system.
It says: “Do not enter the church if you are ‘shielding’, in self-isolation or have symptoms/feel unwell.”
The website also notes: “Names and contact details must be provided to track and trace in the event of an outbreak of Covid-19. All the existing precautions – for example social distancing, face coverings, sanitising hands etc – remain in place.”
An insider estimated that about three-quarters of the congregation at church that day were elderly.
Father Frank Keevins, one of the priests based at St Mungo’s, said: “I don’t want to say anything about it.”
He added that St Mungo’s follows all safety protocols and takes the public health measures “absolutely seriously”.
The Archdiocese of Glasgow said: “For the good of the whole community, it is important that anyone who is required to self-isolate does so in accordance with the Government’s guidance, so anyone in that situation should not attend mass.
“It is disappointing if this has not happened but we would like to reassure
people that we fulfil all the Government and church guidelines.”
Lennon added: “Attending church was a deliberate gamble with people’s health. She put priests and worshippers at risk. People have had to miss funerals because of Covid- 19 restrictions and here’s an MP with the virus on the altar doing a reading.
“Coronavirus kills and Margaret Ferrier knew that when she wilfully went up and down t he country carr ying a deadly virus.”
It was revealed that Ferrier visited a gift shop, a beauty salon and a leisure centre on the same day she took acoronavirus test. Paula Ogilvie, owner of Sweet P gift shop in Glasgow’s Burnside – where Ferrier bought an item – said: “She won’t be welcome back in the shop.”
Ferrier has been contacted about the church visit. An SNP spokesman said: “The actions of Margaret Ferrier have been completely indefensible.”