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SNP deputy Margaret Ferrier has insisted she will not resign despite backlash for traveling to parliament after developing coronavirus symptoms, saying the virus made her act ‘out of place’.
Mrs Ferrier admitted traveling to London from Glasgow after taking a coronavirus test last month, and he said that once he had received a positive result, took the train back to his Scottish constituency – a breach of coronavirus rules in Scotland and England.
He has now told the Scottish Sun that he had no intention of retiring from his MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, despite pressure from the SNP party leadership.
Trip made by MP Margaret Ferrier while she had coronavirus: to London from Glasgow and vice versa
Speaking to the Scottish Sun, Ms Ferrier said: “This has been a terrible experience, but I will continue to fight for my constituents because that is who I am.”
Speaking at Sophy Ridge On Sunday, Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon reiterated her call for Ms. Ferrier’s resignation.
He said the MP’s “error in judgment” was “so significant and so unacceptable” after he “flagrantly” disobeyed the rules.
Sturgeon said: “I cannot be clearer: I should resign from parliament.
“The lack of judgment in traveling hundreds of miles, knowing that she had tested positive for Covid was so significant and so unacceptable that I would have to say that I don’t think there is any other acceptable course of action for her.
“I hope you do the right thing.”
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SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has also called for Ms Ferrier to resign and took the whip from the party her.
Ferrier said he had “admitted and apologized profusely” and the reason he traveled to Westminster despite developing coronavirus symptoms, he said, was because he wanted to “represent his constituents” and participate in a debate in parliament, which that he couldn’t. do virtually.
“I was fine on Saturday morning. Later in the afternoon I had a tickle in my throat,” he told the newspaper.
“I went to get tested 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 did this happen because I don’t feel bad?
“Over the last six months, the regulations and guidelines have changed and they have been very confusing.”
“You feel like you are receiving a lot of criticism from people who you thought were your colleagues or friends who would understand that it was an error of judgment. I do not deny it,” he added.
“People may be saying, ‘You should have known better, you’re a public figure.’ But at the end of the day it still hurts. Then you think of all that hard work and dedication, did that just go away?”
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“I felt good when I got up on Monday morning. If I had somehow felt any symptoms, obviously I wouldn’t have traveled.
“I was going to London because I wanted to represent my constituents, participate in a debate. That was my reasoning.
“He was being diligent. We don’t have a complete virtual parliament.”
Ferrier does not have property in London and is instead staying at a hotel near Westminster, explaining that he was worried about having to isolate himself there for two weeks, prompting the trip back to Glasgow.
“There were no other people next to me in the carriage and I wore a mask all the way back.”
Ferrier also said: “Many people say COVID-19 it makes you do things out of place. You are not thinking clearly. I am not making an excuse.
“At that point when I thought it would go negative again and it was positive, I was shocked. You could have knocked me down.”
The Metropolitan Police previously said it was investigating Ferrier.
