Speaker’s fury over ‘reckless’ act that put lives at risk
THE Commons Speaker expressed his fury yesterday after only being told Margaret Ferrier had coronavirus two days after she tested positive.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle said he learned she had the virus while in the chamber at about 4pm on Wednesday.
This was despite the fact that Miss Farrier had tested positive on Monday evening after travelling to London and giving a speech to MPs.
Sir Lindsay said the reaction was immediate and ‘within 20 minutes we were in full swing on what we needed to do to ensure the safety and security of staff and members’.
The Speaker told Sky News: ‘Obviously this is completely reckless behaviour for a Member of Parliament – to put staff and fellow MPs at risk is not acceptable.’
He added: ‘What made it worse was only being told on Wednesday about something that people knew about on Monday – or the MP themselves that knew about it on Monday.’
Sir Lindsay said that people’s lives had been put at risk because of Miss Ferrier’s ‘self-indulgence’, telling ITV News: ‘It’s not acceptable and they should consider their position.’
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, who resigned from Boris Johnson’s Government over Dominic Cummings’ lockdown movements, said questions needed to be answered as to why the information was kept secret from the public until Thursday. He said that ‘the public deserve clear answers’.
Shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray demanded answers from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP’s leader in Westminster, Ian Blackford, over the matter. The Labour MP tweeted: ‘SNP in chaos & appear to be covering up serious breach of public health laws. FM & Blackford must hold press conference tomorrow am to answer questions about what they did & didn’t know.’
Last night Mr Blackford suggested he had been lied to by Miss Ferrier over her decision to come to the Commons with coronavirus on Monday. He admitted he ‘wasn’t told the truth at the start of the week’.
Speaking to Times Radio, Mr Blackford was asked if he had been lied to. He replied: ‘I’ve laid out what happened and I think it’s obvious that we weren’t told the truth as to what happened at the beginning of the week.’