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Revision as of 22:36, 23 October 2022

Margaret Ferrier
MP
Official portrait, 2021
Member of Parliament
for Rutherglen and Hamilton West
Incumbent
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byGed Killen
Majority5,230 (9.7%)
In office
7 May 2015 – 3 May 2017
Preceded byTom Greatrex
Succeeded byGed Killen
Personal details
Born (1960-09-10) 10 September 1960 (age 64)
Glasgow, Scotland
Political partyIndependent (since 2020)
Other political
affiliations		Scottish National Party (2011–2020)
Children1

Margaret Ferrier (born 10 September 1960)[1] is a Scottish politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rutherglen and Hamilton West since 2019, and previously from 2015 to 2017. As the candidate for the Scottish National Party (SNP), Ferrier was first elected to the House of Commons in the 2015 general election. She lost her seat to Ged Killen of the Labour Party at the 2017 general election but regained it two years later.

On 1 October 2020, Ferrier was suspended by the SNP for breaching COVID-19 lockdown rules; the party leader and Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon called on her to resign her parliamentary seat. She was arrested on 4 January 2021 and charged with "culpable and reckless conduct",[2] for which she pleaded guilty and was later sentenced to community service.

Life and career

Early life and career

Ferrier was born on 10 September 1960[3] and brought up in the King's Park district of Glasgow, attending Holyrood Secondary School.[4] After living with her family in Mallorca for two years, she moved to Rutherglen from 1972 to 1990 and then resided in Darnley. She has lived in the Halfway district of Cambuslang since 2000, where she joined the Rutherglen branch of the SNP in 2011 (in her youth she had been a Scottish Labour member).[4]

Before her election to Parliament, she was a commercial sales supervisor for a manufacturing construction company in Motherwell.[5]

Political career

Prior to her successful election to Westminster, she had previously been a defeated candidate for the Rutherglen South ward of South Lanarkshire Council in a 2013 by-election (following the death of Cllr Anne Higgins). The councillor voted in ahead of her on that occasion was Ged Killen of Scottish Labour.[6]

She became the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rutherglen and Hamilton West after winning the seat at the 2015 United Kingdom general election;[7][8] she achieved 30,279 votes, 52% of the total cast and a 31% swing from the previous incumbent and their party. She was the first female MP, and the first for the SNP, to be elected in the Rutherglen/Cambuslang portion of the constituency or its predecessor;[4] Winnie Ewing had previously served a short spell as representative of the original Hamilton constituency for the same party.[9]

Ferrier narrowly lost the seat in the June 2017 election to Ged Killen by 265 votes.[10][11] In May 2019, Ferrier stood as a candidate in the European Union elections.[12]

She was again selected as the SNP candidate for the seat in the 2019 Election, where she defeated Killen on a 5% swing and gained a majority of 5,240 votes or 9.7%.[13]

Breaches of COVID-19 regulations

On 1 October 2020, Ferrier made a public statement apologising for serious breaches of COVID-19 regulations. Five days earlier, she first noted symptoms of COVID-19 and took a test, then visited a gym, beauty salon and a gift shop.[14][15] While waiting for the results, having COVID-19 symptoms, Ferrier took a train from Scotland to London, on 28 September, and spoke in a parliamentary debate that evening.[16] The same evening, she received a positive test result, but returned to Scotland the next morning, again by train, having told her party whip that a family member was unwell.[16] Following her public statement, Ferrier was suspended from the SNP, and referred herself to the police and the Parliamentary standards authorities.[17]

SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on 2 October that Ferrier had been guilty of the "worst breach imaginable". Sturgeon said she had told Ferrier that she should step down as an MP.[18] Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons, described her actions as "reckless".[19] The Scotsman's Gary Flockhart criticised Ferrier for hypocrisy in calling for government advisor Dominic Cummings to resign after he travelled to County Durham during the national lockdown before being found to have broken the rules herself.[20] Ferrier said that the coronavirus made her act "out of character",[21][22] an explanation that was dismissed by Sturgeon.[23]

In October 2020, Ferrier's Rutherglen constituency association announced that they had asked her to resign her seat over the scandal,[24] which she refused.[25] In the same month, the Metropolitan Police said they would be taking no further action into the matter.[26]

On 12 November 2020, Ferrier made her first appearance in the Commons since breaching COVID-19 regulations.[27] In view of the circumstances, Richard Leonard, the then Leader of Scottish Labour, described the appearance as "a gross insult to her constituents."[28] He accused her of gross selfishness and started a petition for her resignation from parliament.[29]

On 4 January 2021, Ferrier was arrested and charged by Police Scotland[30] with "culpable and reckless conduct."[2] On 3 February 2021 she appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court; no plea or declaration was made and she was given bail.[31] She pled guilty to the charge on 18 August 2022,[32] and on 13 September was sentenced to 270 hours of community service.[33]

Personal life

Ferrier lives in Halfway, South Lanarkshire with her daughter.[34]

References

  1. ^ Brunskill, Ian (19 March 2020). The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019 : the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election. p. 318. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574.
  2. ^ a b Carrell, Severin (4 January 2021). "Scottish MP Margaret Ferrier arrested over alleged Covid rule breach". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  3. ^ "Margaret Ferrier". myparliament.info. MyParliament. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  4. ^ a b c Dickie, Douglas (15 June 2015). "Rutherglen MP Margaret Ferrier opes up to the Reformer". Daily Record / Rutherglen Reformer. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  5. ^ Henshaw, William (5 February 2015). "SNP select Margaret Ferrier as candidate for Rutherglen and Hamilton West seat in the General Election". Daily Record / Rutherglen Reformer. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  6. ^ Dickie, Douglas (20 February 2013). "Killen wins Rutherglen South for Labour". Daily Record / Rutherglen Reformer. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  7. ^ "Election 2015: Rutherglen & Hamilton West". BBC News. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  8. ^ Dickie, Douglas (8 May 2015). "Rutherglen and Hamilton West election results: SNP's Margaret Ferrier takes Labour hotspot with 52 per cent of the vote". Daily Record / Rutherglen Reformer. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  9. ^ "No M.P. safe except me – Mrs Ewing". The Glasgow Herald. 4 November 1967. p. 1. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  10. ^ Kerr, Aiden (9 June 2017). "Labour gain first Scottish seat from SNP in election". STV Group. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  11. ^ Spooner, Murray (9 June 2017). "Labour takes Rutherglen and Hamilton West". Daily Record / Rutherglen Reformer. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  12. ^ "SNP unveils its European Parliament election candidates". BBC News. 24 April 2019.
  13. ^ "Rutherglen & Hamilton West parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  14. ^ Feerick, Kirsty (2 October 2020). "SNP MP Ferrier who has Covid visited beauty salon and gym on day she took test". Daily Record.
  15. ^ Brooks, Libby; Walker, Peter (2 October 2020). "Police investigate Margaret Ferrier as MP defies calls to step down". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  16. ^ a b Weaver, Matthew; Brooks, Libby (1 October 2020). "SNP MP Margaret Ferrier suspended for taking train after positive Covid test". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  17. ^ "SNP MP Margaret Ferrier suspended after knowingly travelling on 4 hour train journey with virus". The Herald. 1 October 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  18. ^ "Sturgeon: Covid trip MP must 'do the right thing'". BBC News. 2 October 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  19. ^ "Commons speaker angry at 'reckless' Covid trip MP". BBC News. 2 October 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  20. ^ Flockhart, Gary (1 October 2020). "Margaret Ferrier MP: Covid-19 rule-breaker called for Dominic Cummings resignation in May". The Scotsman.
  21. ^ "Margaret Ferrier: Covid MP says virus 'makes you act out of character'". BBC News. 11 October 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  22. ^ Robertson, Chris (11 October 2020). "Margaret Ferrier: MP who travelled with COVID says virus 'makes you do things out of character'". Sky News. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  23. ^ Wade, Mike (11 October 2020). "Nicola Sturgeon dismisses Margaret Ferrier's 'out of character' defence". The Times. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  24. ^ Richards, Xander (7 October 2020). "Margaret Ferrier: SNP Rutherglen association ask MP to resign her seat". The National.
  25. ^ Sabljak, Ema (11 October 2020). "Margaret Ferrier will not resign after Covid train scandal". Glasgow Times.
  26. ^ Monteith, Brian (15 October 2020). "SNP MP Margaret Ferrier avoids police action over Covid-19 trip". The Scotsman.
  27. ^ Brown, Alexander (12 November 2020). "Margaret Ferrier makes first Commons appearance since positive Covid journey". The Scotsman. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  28. ^ Sanderson, Daniel (12 November 2020). "Disgraced MP who flouted Covid rules 'shows brass neck' with Commons return". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  29. ^ Rodger, Hannah (7 October 2020). "Labour's Richard Leonard launches petition for Margaret Ferrier's resignation". The Herald.
  30. ^ Hutchison, Caitlin (4 January 2021). "MP Margaret Ferrier arrested by police over breach of Covid rules". The Herald. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  31. ^ "MP Margaret Ferrier appears in court accused of Covid rule breach". BBC News. 3 February 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  32. ^ "MP Margaret Ferrier pleads guilty to exposing public to Covid". BBC News. 18 August 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  33. ^ Cameron, Lucinda (13 September 2022). "Margaret Ferrier: MP who took train while she had Covid given 270-hour community service order". Evening Standard. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  34. ^ "Margaret Ferrier for Rutherglen and Hamilton West in the UK Parliament elections". Who Can I Vote For? by Democracy Club.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Rutherglen and Hamilton West
2015–2017 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Rutherglen and Hamilton West
2019–present 		Incumbent
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