Margaret Ferrier: By-election triggered as Covid breach MP unseated

A by-election has been triggered after MP Margaret Ferrier, who was suspended from the Commons for breaking Covid lockdown rules, lost her seat in a recall petition.

A total of 11,896 out of the 81,124 eligible constituents in Rutherglen and Hamilton West signed the petition.

That exceeded the 10% threshold and means a by-election will take place.

Ferrier travelled to London while feeling ill in 2020 then got a train home after a positive Covid test.

Ferrier was elected as an SNP member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West in 2015 but was suspended from the party after the lockdown breach in 2020 and has since sat as an independent.

Ferrier had taken a Covid test on Saturday 26 September 2020 after noticing what she described as a "tickly throat".

While awaiting her results, she went to church on the Sunday and gave a reading to the congregation. She later spent more than two hours in a bar in Prestwick, Ayrshire.

The next day, Monday 28 September, she travelled to London by train - which had 183 passengers on board - and spoke in the Commons before finding out a short time later that she had tested positive for the virus.

Ferrier decided to get a train back to Glasgow the following day, fearing she would have to self-isolate in a London hotel room for two weeks.

She was arrested and charged with culpable and reckless conduct in January 2021 and pleaded guilty last August. A month later she was ordered to carry out 270 hours of community service.

The Commons' standards committee recommended in March that Ferrier should be suspended, a decision which was upheld by an independent expert panel after she lodged an appeal.

MPs then voted to suspend Ferrier from the Commons for 30 days, a decision which automatically triggered the recall motion.

The recall petition was the first to be held in Scotland and ran from 20 June to 31 July. Under the Recall of MPs Act 2015, 10% of the electorate had to vote to remove Ferrier.

The seat becomes vacant from the moment the petition officer, who oversaw the count, informs the Speaker of the House of Commons of the result.

The date for the by-election will be set when parliament resumes in September.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), the body which regulates MPs' pay and pensions, confirmed to the BBC that Ferrier is not eligible for any payoff for leaving parliament.