Margaret Ferrier: MP who travelled on train with COVID facing by-election after suspension recommended

An MP who travelled by train with COVID in the early stages of the pandemic is facing a 30-day suspension from the House of Commons – raising the possibility of a by-election.

Margaret Ferrier was found by the standard’s watchdog to have damaged parliament’s reputation and put people at risk by failing to self-isolate while suffering from the virus in September 2020.

The Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP has already been ordered to complete 270 hours of community service after admitting recklessly exposing the public “to the risk of infection, illness and death” as a result of her behaviour.

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The former SNP politician was kicked out of her parliamentary party when the allegations emerged but resisted pressure to resign – and now sits as an independent.

Parliament’s standards committee launched an investigation when criminal proceedings finished and today recommended she be suspended from the Commons for 30 days.

The same sanction was recommended for Tory MP Owen Paterson after he was found to have broken lobbying rules – but he resigned in the wake of a scandal which saw Conservative MPs try to save him from the punishment.

Under the rules, any suspension of 10 days or more can trigger the Recall of MPs Act which means that if 10% of an MP’s constituents sign a petition, a by-election shall be held.

However, MPs must vote to back the suspension.

If they do, Ms Ferrier has the option to appeal the ruling or resign – with a by-election also triggered in the case of the latter.

A train journey with big electoral consequences

Tamara Cohen

Political correspondent

@tamcohen

Margaret Ferrier, the MP for Rutherglen and West Hamilton, got a cough on the afternoon of Saturday 26 September 2020 – setting off a chain of events with possible consequences for all three major parties.

As is now well-known, she travelled to London and spoke in parliament; and after receiving a positive result, got the train back to Glasgow in defiance of the restrictions in place at the time that she should immediately isolate.

Ms Ferrier had the whip withdrawn by the Scottish National Party and was convicted in court for recklessly exposing the public to COVID, being sentenced to 270 hours of community service.

Already unable to stand for the SNP at the next election, now her political career may come to an even faster end as the Commons Standards Committee recommends a 30-day suspension.

This is at the higher end, in recognition of two serious breaches of the Members Code of Conduct they identify, and if agreed by a majority of MPs in a vote, she faces an automatic recall petition and a by-election.

For the SNP, this is hardly the news that new First Minister Humza Yousaf would want on his second day in the job as – pending the petition and any appeal by Ms Ferrier – sets the stage for a competitive by-election.

Her seat is one of the few that Labour briefly regained in 2017 following their post-referendum wipe-out in Scotland.

A Scottish Labour source says: “This is a seat that we can win. There will likely be panic stations in SNP HQ.”

It will certainly be an interesting test of Labour’s chances ahead of 2024, in which a recovery north of the border will likely be key to whether the party will do as well nationally as the polls currently suggest.

‘Panic stations in SNP HQ’

Labour’s shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray said she should “do the right thing and stand down as an MP”.

Any contest at the polls would be seen as a test for Scotland’s new First Minister Humza Yousaf, with Labour eyeing an opportunity to make in-roads in the wake of Nicola Sturgeon’s sudden resignation.

On the prospect of a by-election, a Labour source said: “This is a seat that we can win. There will likely be panic stations in SNP HQ.”

But Mr Yousaf said: “There should be a by-election. We’ve said from day one that Margaret Ferrier should have stepped down, of course, because of her reckless actions.

“We look forward to fighting that by-election and our strong track record but we won’t take anything for granted, we won’t be complacent.

“It will take hard work but it is the right thing for her to do, to stand down.”

The MPs on the standards committee are the same group that will adjudicate on whether Boris Johnson deliberately misled parliament over partygate.

Ms Ferrier developed COVID symptoms on Saturday 26 September 2020 and after taking a test, still went to church and had lunch with a family member the following day.

On the Monday, while awaiting the result of the test, she travelled by train to London, took part in a Commons debate and ate in the Members’ Tearoom in parliament.

That evening she received a text telling her the test was positive but instead of isolating, she travelled back to Scotland by train the following morning.

Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Daniel Greenberg said Ms Ferrier had breached the code of conduct for MPs “by placing her own personal interest of not wishing to self-isolate immediately or in London over the public interest of avoiding possible risk of harm to health and life”.

She also breached the code because “her actions commencing from when she first took a Covid-19 test to when she finally began self-isolation caused significant damage to the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons as a whole, and of its members generally”.