MP who took virus to the Commons refuses to quit
DEFIANT MP Margaret Ferrier refused to quit last night as Scotland Yard launched a probe into her 800-mile round trip to the Commons while infected with coronavirus.
The SNP politician remained silent despite Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon declaring her position was untenable over her blatant flouting of the self-isolation rules.
Miss Ferrier has had the whip withdrawn by her party and at least three other fellow MPs have called on her to resign.
But her failure last night to answer the growing clamour for her to go indicated she may be planning to defy her leader and carry on sitting in the Commons as an independent.
It came as the Metropolitan Police said they were investigating potential breaches of the Health Protection Regulations 2020.
Miss Ferrier could face a £4,000 fine for a first-time offence of ‘recklessly’ coming into contact with others when she should have been self-isolating under a law that came into force on the day of her positive test.
If she refuses to stand down, the MP’s constituents could potentially force her out by demanding a recall petition.
However, this could only happen if the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards suspends her for a fortnight. Such an investigation could take months.
Speaking at her daily coronavirus briefing yesterday, Miss Sturgeon could not hide her displeasure with her former party colleague and said Miss Ferrier should ‘come to
‘Monumental error of judgment’
the right decision’ and step down as an MP.
She said: ‘This was a monumental, actually almost incomprehensible, error of judgment on Margaret’s part, and I can’t make my feelings on that any clearer than I am doing.
‘There surely can be nobody in this country who doesn’t know that if you have a positive test for Covid you should isolate yourself, and you certainly shouldn’t sit on a train for six hours taking a 450mile journey.’
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said she should go because of her ‘dangerous’ actions.
Miss Ferrier issued an apology on Thursday evening as she revealed she was tested for coronavirus last Saturday after developing symptoms.
She took a train to Parliament on Monday when she should have been self-isolating.
She spoke in a Commons debate on coronavirus on the same day, and was told at some point that evening she had tested positive.
Instead of self-isolating, she took a train back to Scotland the following day.
Her admission triggered and alert in Parliament with officials rushing to trace who she had been in contact with.
The House of Commons authorities said they had carried out a deep clean of areas which could have been contaminated with Covid. DUP MP Jim Shannon, who was seated at the same dining
table as her on Monday evening, with social distancing in place, is now selfisolating. His party’s statement said the Speaker’s Office told him on Wednesday he was a close contact of a positive case and he immediately self-isolated.
An Assistant Serjeant at Arms was close to Miss Ferrier when she spoke in the Commons on Monday but has not been advised to self-isolate.
SNP staff at Westminster said they were told on Wednesday that Miss Ferrier had coronavirus.
They initially thought she had taken the test after returning to Scotland and only learnt about her breaches of self-isolation rules on Thursday.
Miss Sturgeon said on Friday that Miss Ferrier had been unable to give a ‘cogent explanation’ for her actions.
‘I don’t have the power to force an MP to sit down, no party leader has that power,’ she said.
‘But I can make my views known and – difficult though it is – I have done so, and I hope she will come to the right decision.’
She said while coronavirus rules have changed during the course of the pan
‘Flagrant breach of rules’
demic, ‘ the one rule that has been clear and unchanging really throughout this is the need to self-isolate when you have symptoms and get tested, and if you test positive to absolutely make sure you complete that self-isolation’.
She added: ‘This is not a minor breach of the rules, it is not an inadvertent breach of the rules, it is a really flagrant and dangerous breach of the rules.’
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Margaret Ferrier has accepted that she has broken the law.
‘That’s now a matter for the police, the authorities who are investigating the matter, and it is really for her to consider what her political future is, and for her party, the SNP.’
Miss Ferrier, the MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, said that she is now self isolating.
A Metropolitan Police statement said: ‘Following consultation with Police Scotland, officers from the Metropolitan Police, working with British Transport Police, are conducting an investigation into potential offences. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has been informed.’