MP Margaret Ferrier to appeal House of Commons ban

MP Margaret Ferrier will appeal against a proposed 30-day ban from the House of Commons over breaching Covid rules.

It comes after she spoke in parliament in September 2020 while awaiting the results of a Covid test.

The Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP then took a train home to Glasgow after being told she had tested positive.

Last month the Commons' Standards Committee recommended that Ms Ferrier should be suspended following an investigation.

She was elected as an SNP MP but lost the whip following her actions in 2020. She now sits as an independent.

It stated that she had failed to self-isolate and had "exposed people to risk of infection, illness and death".

If an MP is suspended from the commons for more than 10 days, then a recall petition can be launched seeking a by-election.

If this is supported by 10% of voters in the constituency, then a by election would be held.

Parliamentary commissioner for standards, Daniel Greenberg, began an investigation into Ms Ferrier's conduct on 12 October following her self-referral.

He concluded that she had put her own personal interest ahead of the public interest by not immediately self-isolating in London, and had therefore caused "possible risk of harm to health and life for people she came into contact with".

The commissioner also said her actions had "caused significant damage to the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons as a whole, and of its members generally" and noted that people in many other walks of life would have been sacked for a similar breach of the lockdown rules.

Ferrier told the commissioner her self-referral was "an open acceptance" and an "indication of remorse" that she had brought Parliament into disrepute.

But she maintains that she did not put her personal interest above that of the public.

It is not known how long the appeal process will take.