JOHN Swinney has urged Margaret Ferrier to stand down as an MP, saying the SNP have now “taken all the action” they could as a party.
The MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West has said nothing since Thursday when she admitted breaking strict coronavirus self-isolation rules by travelling to and from London, and working in the House of Commons as usual.
She was suspended by the SNP on Thursday, and has referred herself to Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, and to the police.
Ferrier took a coronavirus test last Saturday after experiencing symptoms. Despite that she then travelled to London by train on Monday and gave a speech in the Commons.
When she received a positive test result that evening, she stayed in a hotel in London before heading back to Scotland by train.
The MP misled her SNP colleagues by suggesting she was leaving Parliament early to visit a sick family member.
If she refuses to stand down, she could face a recall petition, which could ultimately force a by-election if backed by at least 10% of her constituents.
For that to happen she would first need to be suspended from the Commons for at least 10 sitting days.
Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday Politics Scotland, the Deputy First Minister wouldn’t be drawn on whether or not the SNP would back or lead a recall petition against Ferrier, saying that was a decision for her constituents.
Swinney told the show: “Well these are questions that local constituents need to resolve. It's up to them to do that, but we've made it very clear that we think that Margaret Ferrier should resign as a member of parliament.
“We've taken all the action that we can take as a party in relation to this particular issue, and we leave it to the constituents of Margaret Ferrier to determine what her future should be, but there's obviously parliamentary processes to go through which should be allowed to take their course.”
Programme host Gordon Brewer suggested Ferrier was holding on because she was worried about making her parliamentary staff redundant. The Deputy First Minister was asked if he could “give some sort of guarantee” that should she resign that her employees would be “redeployed” by the SNP.
Swinney said: “Well obviously staff will be employees of Margaret Ferrier, and there are employment issues that have to be resolved by Margaret Ferrier, but what's important is that Margaret addresses the widespread concern there is about her situation, and the actions that she has taken.”
On Saturday, Labour’s Richard Leonard called on Nicola Sturgeon to work with him to kickstart the petition process.
He said: “I make this call this morning to Nicola Sturgeon: if Margaret Ferrier will not listen to her call for her to resign, I'm calling on Nicola Sturgeon to work with me to get public petition in that constituency to put the pressure on so that Margaret Ferrier does step down."
Speaking on Sky News on Sunday morning, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said he was “surprised, amazed and shocked” that Ferrier hadn’t resigned.
“She has no credibility as a Member of Parliament anymore. People look to MPs to set a standard, to follow the guidelines that MPs themselves have assisted in making, and her actions were irresponsible. They have endangered many people she has come into contact with.“
It was put to him that he was the "only person to actually quit over Dominic Cummings" and that the Tories "should have been much stronger" over the Prime Minister's rule-breaking aide.
Ross said: "Well, I can only speak for my own actions and, as you say, I quit the UK government because I couldn’t defend what Dominic Cummings had done but I do think there are questions on the timeline here for the SNP – when did they know about it, did Margaret Ferrier not tell a single colleague or a single person in the SNP that she had taken a test, that she’d tested positive, that she’d travelled from London to Scotland with that positive test?
"Why did the Commons Authorities know about it on Wednesday afternoon but the First Minister and Leader of the SNP didn’t know about it until Thursday lunchtime?
"Why did it take time for the whip to be withdrawn? They agreed a statement with Margaret Ferrier and in the initial stages they weren’t withdrawing the whip and, as I say, Nicola Sturgeon believes Margaret Ferrier shouldn’t be a Member of Parliament but she’s not said why she should continue as a member of the Scottish National Party".
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