The Scottish National party’s Westminster leader on Friday said the position of an SNP member of parliament who broke coronavirus rules was “not tenable” as calls mounted for her to resign her seat.
The SNP has moved sharply to distance itself from MP Margaret Ferrier, whose admission on Thursday that she travelled hundreds of miles to and from parliament while infected with Covid-19 has made her one of the UK’s most high-profile examples of defiance of pandemic regulations.
Ian Blackford, leader of the SNP group at Westminster, suspended Ms Ferrier from the parliamentary party on Thursday and made clear on Friday morning that he thought she should not continue as an MP.
“I would say to her that her position is not tenable . . . and she has to accept her own responsibilities,” Mr Blackford told BBC Radio Scotland.
“I can’t force that upon her, she is no longer an SNP MP,” he said. “This is gut-wrenching, but it is an enormous error of judgment that she has made and she has to do the right thing for her constituents.”
SNP supporters hope that the strength of the party’s condemnation of Ms Ferrier will soften public anger toward the party over her decision to travel to London by train from her constituency of Rutherglen and Hamilton West near Glasgow after exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms and then returning after testing positive.
The SNP approach contrasts sharply with Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson’s robust defence in May of his top adviser Dominic Cummings, who travelled to the north of England after exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms during the national lockdown at the end of March.
Ms Ferrier admitted in a Twitter post on Thursday that she experienced coronavirus symptoms on Saturday and took a test for the virus, but still travelled to London by train on Monday after feeling better.
After giving a speech in the House of Commons chamber, she later on Monday received a positive test result for Covid-19, but returned to her constituency on Tuesday, again on public transport.
Mr Blackford said the SNP chief whip was only informed on Wednesday afternoon that Ms Ferrier had tested positive and that he only learned on Thursday that she had travelled and attended parliament while infected.
Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, and other Tory MPs have called on Ms Ferrier to resign. Mr Ross, who in May resigned from his position as parliamentary under-secretary of state for Scotland over Mr Johnson’s decision not to fire Mr Cummings, accused the SNP MP of acting with “complete disregard” for the safety of others.
John Lamont, Scottish Conservative MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, said the SNP should expel her from the party. “Based on her own account she has broken the law and I think it’s sufficiently serious to warrant expulsion,” he said.
Richard Leonard, leader of Scottish Labour, also called on Ms Ferrier to resign.