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Margaret Ferrier, a disgraced SNP deputy, has refused to resign after explosive revelations about her 800-mile round-trip while suffering from coronavirus.
The embarrassed politician has admitted traveling to London from Glasgow despite taking an exam and, after a positive result, traveling back to Scotland by train the next day.
The Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP was suspended from the party and faced calls for her to resign from all sides, especially from the hero’s own leader Nicola Sturgeon, who said Ferrier should step down.
But breaking his silence since the shocking revelations came to light late last month, Ferrier stood his ground, saying he will ignore those calls and continue his £ 82,000-a-year job that also comes with an extraordinary pension package.
Despite stating that she was not “making an excuse”, Ferrier said that the virus “makes you act out of place” and that all her work as a deputy should not “be erased”.
Ferrier, 60, told The Scottish Sun: “I continue to work hard.
“Many people say that Covid forces you to do things out of place. You are not thinking clearly. I am not making an excuse.
“At that point when I thought it would come back negative and it was positive, I was completely shocked. You could have knocked me down.
“Although the last 10 days have been a very stressful situation, I continue to work hard for my constituents while I am not feeling well. I keep working despite everything.
“You feel that you are receiving a lot of criticism from people who you thought were your colleagues or friends and who would understand that it was an error of judgment. I do not deny it.
“People may be saying, ‘You should have known better, you’re a public figure.’
“But at the end of the day it still hurts. So you think of all that hard work and dedication, did that just go away? “
According to Scottish government guidelines, anyone showing symptoms of the deadly bug should not leave their homes.
The Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP had undergone a test on Saturday 26 September, after experiencing “mild symptoms”, but instead of self-isolating, she traveled from Glasgow to Westminster by train on Monday morning.
She added: “I was fine Saturday morning. Later in the afternoon I had a tickle in my throat.
“I went to do the test that night. And when I woke up at home the next day I had no symptoms.
“I think that’s why I was so shocked and panicked on Monday night when I got my result and I thought, ‘How has this happened because I don’t feel bad?
“Over the past six months, the regulations and guidelines have changed and they have been very confusing.”
We previously revealed how Ferrier also attended a church service 24 hours after he developed symptoms and gave a reading at a Glasgow mass.
She has been accused of making a “deliberate bet” for people’s health and putting the lives of priests and faithful at risk.
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