Margaret Ferrier’s Commons ban could complicate partygate for Boris

Margaret Ferrier has received a 30-day suspension from the Commons for breaching the Code of Conduct for MPs when she broke Covid rules. As the suspension is for longer than ten days, she is now at the mercy of a recall petition and by-election: it’s almost certain that the constituents of Rutherglen and Hamilton West will soon have a new MP. Unusually, 40 MPs voted against the suspension (185 voted in favour), and a high number of abstentions were recorded.

Ferrier was sentenced to 270 hours of unpaid work in September last year after she pleaded guilty in a Scottish court to culpable and reckless conduct. Having discovered she was positive for Covid, Ferrier took a train from Westminster to Glasgow during the pandemic. The Standards Committee concluded that Ferrier – who was suspended by the SNP – had ‘knowingly and recklessly exposed members of the public and those on the parliamentary estate to the risk of contracting Covid’.