Recall petition for Margaret Ferrier to open on 20 June

A recall petition will open in Margaret Ferrier's constituency after she was suspended from the House of Commons for breaching Covid rules.

More than 10% of registered voters in Rutherglen and Hamilton West need to sign the petition for Ferrier to lose her seat.

A by-election would then be held in the constituency to elect a new MP in her place.

The petition will be open for signing in the area from 20 June to 31 July.

MPs voted to suspend Ferrier from the Commons for 30 days after she spoke in parliament while awaiting the results of a Covid test during lockdown in September 2020.

Despite testing positive, she took a train home to Glasgow to avoid self-isolating in a London hotel.

There will be up to 10 official signing places in Rutherglen and Hamilton West which will remain open from Monday to Friday between 09:00 and 17:00.

These hours can also be extended by the petition officer.

Registered voters will receive a notice similar to a polling card informing them where they can sign the petition.

People must have been added to the register at least three working days before the petition opens, and they need to bring photo identification.

The petition can be signed in person, by post or by appointing a proxy to sign on the voter's behalf - but it cannot be signed online.

Signatures will be counted no later than one day after the end of the six-week signing period.

MPs voted by 185 to 40 in favour of suspending Ferrier from parliament for 30 days, with the suspension due to start on Wednesday.

She has already been ordered to complete a 270-hour community payback order by a court after admitting culpably and recklessly exposing the public "to the risk of infection, illness and death".

Ferrier has previously said she "deeply regretted" her actions.

But despite facing repeated calls to resign as an MP from many of her former SNP colleagues, she has so far refused.

Ferrier won the seat for the SNP with a majority of 5,230 in the 2019 election but has been sitting as an independent since losing the party whip.