Margaret Ferrier: SNP leader says MP who travelled across country with coronavirus should resign

Nicola Sturgeon expresses anger over double trek between Glasgow and London

Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon has called on one of her own MPs, who travelled hundreds of miles after testing positive for coronavirus,  to resign.

The first minister of Scotland said she was “very angry” and had spoken to Margaret Ferrier “and made clear my view that she should step down as an MP".

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross also branded Ms Ferrier's decision to travel between London and Glasgow on a train with coronavirus symptoms "reckless and dangerous".

Mr Ross himself resigned as a minister over his party's refusal to sack Boris Johnson’s chief aide Dominic Cummings over his trip to Durham during lockdown.

Shadow Scotland secretary Ian Murray called on the SNP to "come clean'' over what it knew and when about the MP’s decision to travel to and from Westminster. 

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said he learned Ms Ferrier had coronavirus around 4pm on Wednesday.

“Within 20 minutes we were in full swing on what we needed to do to ensure the safety and security of staff and members", he told Sky News.

He added: "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 on something that people knew about on Monday - well the MP themselves knew about it on Monday."

The Independent understands some SNP MPs discovered what their colleague had done when they saw the news on social media.

An email from the party to SNP MPs around 6pm last night, just as reports broke.

The SNP's leader in Westminster earlier hinted that she should resign. 

Ian Blackford said Ms Ferrier would be expected "to reflect on her position" after she twice travelled across the country with Covid-19.

The MP travelled from Glasgow to Westminster once with suspected coronavirus symptoms, and then a second time back to her constituency home with a confirmed case of the virus.

She apologised on Thursday, admitting she should have self-isolated while waiting for her test result, adding: "I deeply regret my actions."

But asked whether the MP should quit, her boss Mr Blackford told the BBC: “People are making enormous sacrifices and MPs have to be judged at the highest standards. People will expect her to reflect on her position.”

The SNP withdrew the whip from Ms Ferrier on Thursday, but there are calls within the party for more serious sanctions or consequences.

"The only action that I can take as Westminster leader is what I've done - suspended the whip from Margaret," Mr Blackford told the BBC.

"This is a desperately serious situation that's taken place and at the end of the day we should be judged by the actions we take.

"It's clear that Margaret travelled to London having had a test, and having then been informed that she had tested positive did the journey in reverse. That is not only wrong, that is a breach in the law."

He added: "We've been living with this Covid for a number of months now, people are making enormous sacrifices, and MPs have to be judged to high standards.

"We have a situation where not only has the guidance being broken, bur the law has been broken. I would simply say to Margaret that people will expect her to reflect on the situation she has put herself in and that she has let herself down, her constituents, and indeed her country down.

"I'm asking her to reflect on her position, but I think it's pretty clear what I'm doing."

Ian Blackford, the SNP’s leader in Westminster (Reuters TV)

The SNP chief added that he did not have "formal powers" to force someone out of parliament, and that she should come to a decision herself, adding: "She has created a set of circumstances that are simply not acceptable."

Other figures in the party also called for Ms Ferrier to go. David Linden, SNP MP for Glasgow East, said: "I don't think her position is tenable and she should resign." Mr Linden was joined in his call by Aberdeen MPs Kirsty Blackman and Stephen Flynn.

A Downing Street spokesman declined to comment on whether Ms Ferrier should resign, saying only: “That’s a matter for her and her party.”

He added: “The prime minister has been clear that everybody needs to follow the rules in order to allow us to reduce the spread of the virus and protect lives.

“We have been clear that people must self-isolate if they have coronavirus symptoms, if they test positive or if they are contacted by Test and Trace.”

Asked whether the SNP MP should be fined for her actions under new rules which allow a £4,000 instant penalty for “recklessly” breaching self-isolation, the spokesman said: “Enforcement is a matter for the police and it is for them to enforce the rules in an appropriate manner.”

The spokesman said that only one individual had been identified as a close contact of Ms Ferrier and asked to self-isolate and confirmed that this person was not a government minister.

If Ms Ferrier resigned as an MP it would cause a by election in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, a marginal seat which has changed hands a number of times since 2010.

Ms Ferrier captured the seat from the Labour party in 2015, but lost it again to them at the 2017 election. She however won it back at the 2019 election, with 23,775 votes to 18,545. The Conservatives clocked in at a distant third place.