Margaret Ferrier

[sonicbook]

Speechless and disgusted. Is it thoughtlessness? Arrogance? Panic?

I actually don't think resignation would be good enough. She needs sacked and charged.

I don't think anyone can disagree that if it was a Tory MSP Boris would say.. we've had discussions and I'm happy that she did what she had to do.

What are you on about @Bourdic?

Yes maybe she was following her instincts.

@Scotslassie1 Boris would possibly try to bluff and blunder but the Tory party members are utterly ruthless and would make sure their party wasn’t tarnished.
The snp need to be very clear that this is not acceptable and act decisively otherwise it could cost them dearly.

Not what happened last time. Gove and lots of other Tory MPs publicly gave their backing to Cummings. Granted he's not an MP but same situation- he had a high level role in Government.

The SNP have been- she's been expelled from the party so no longer an SNP MP.

I am in no way defending Dominic Cummings but he’s not an mp and our mp’s need to be held to an account and I really do hope that she is made an example of given the number of people who may have been infected by her recklessness.

Dominic Cummings broke the rules but didn't actually endanger the public as was in his own car. She has potentially infected other MPs, house of commons staff, train staff, fellow passengers who now all need to isolate for 14 days , will Margaret be paying their lost wages when you have symptoms you are supposed to isolate before test and after test until result known, so she should have isolated from Probably Friday when she booked test and definitely from when she had test, she shouldn't have gone to London or house of commons and once she knew she was positive she should have arranged car hire to get home not public transport. If she is not prosecuted and fined it will make fining anyone else harder

SNP bloke on Question Time just said that she should resign.

She really had to fish that out of him.

Yes, it's a long time since I've seen a man blink and gulp like that.

What pisses me off is the hypocrisy of the bloody woman. She was demanding Cummings resignation for travelling 200 miles in a closed private car. Now she’s travelled 400 miles on a mainline public train, gone across London and into the House of Commons, then done the same journey in reverse. And she knew she’d tested positive before the return trip. Selfish, stupid, entitled cow. How many exposed contacts on that journey will now fall ill and perhaps even die?

It is really bad in my view.

The first journey down and going to the HoC could just about be covered as “wrong but not criminal” as presumably she genuinely believed she didn’t have Covid.

Really stupid though. I have loads of friends who were stuck in waiting for a Covid test on something that started with a bit of a temperature but then post test, pre results developed into something that fitted “cold symptoms” far far better than Covid symptoms. They still stayed in until they got the -ve though - it is just what you do.

But once she knew she had it.

I don’t get that at all. Why would you purposely put people at such risk? She can’t possibly think she would get away with “been in Scotland all the time - honest” - she was on the telly as part of the debate! So it must be that she really didn’t fancy 2 weeks wherever she was staying in London. And she risked lives to get back to her own home.

Why would you purposely put people at such risk?

Because you are spectacularly thick. Or spectacularly entitled. Or probably both.

Oh and don't get me wrong - what Cummings did was fucking stupid too. But the two scenarios are a bit different - he never tested positive for the virus although his wife and son did. He thinks he had it, but didn't travel (in a private car) for a fortnight after falling ill. The scandal about him is that he broke the lockdown that his mates had imposed.

I do think that's subtly different from taking a test thinking you're positive then getting on a FUCKING TRAIN, fannying about in London for a wee bit, getting a positive result and then getting in a cab/on the tube, and on another train for a five hour journey north.

I certainly do not want to defend the SNP or their representatives. I also do not think that many SNP M(S)Ps (but the problem is not limited to the SNP) are chosen for their cleverness or background. (I read on Wikipedia that "Before her election to Parliament, she (MF) was a commercial sales supervisor for a manufacturing construction company in Motherwell, having studied shipping management at college."), however...
Where does it end? OK, what this woman did was reprehensible to say the least, but what would a fitting punishment be? Should she be immediately sacked? (OK, she can't be sacked, but you get my drift). Should she be sacked and not allowed to work ever again? Should she beg for food? Should she be made to wear the scarlet letter, C for Covidiot in this case? Should she be sent to the colonies?
Reading here and there it seems to me that people say she is deserving a slow death and nothing less would fit the crime.

So, M(S)Ps feel entitled and above the law. Big deal. Is the Pope Catholic?
If MF resigns from parliament, the country and Parliament will not be any worse off, even though she will be replaced by someone of similar stature, of that I am sure.

Perhaps one should deal with the problem of how to recruit higher calibre representatives (for all parties) and how you make the Covid rules more... sensible (for want of a better word).

OMG Arkadia - I'm agreeing with you

It's far worse than cummings as he travelled to durham to ger care for his 4 year old child and at least drove himself (although could well have stopped for petrol on way)
This mp travelled a very long way by PUBLIC transport 2 x train for many miles and presumably at least 2 x tube journeys in london too plus actually worked in HOC too.
Plus hypocritical as she had criticised other rule breakers including DC.
I am not aware of DC criticising others.
The old saying people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones springs to mind here

I do think she should resign though - even though, as far as I know - there is no safety net/pension for a former MP if they resign (unlike if they lose at a GE).

It would make for an interesting UC application though.... Would she be sanctioned and have payments delayed because she voluntarily made herself unemployed?

@sashagabadon

It's far worse than cummings as he travelled to durham to ger care for his 4 year old child and at least drove himself (although could well have stopped for petrol on way) This mp travelled a very long way by PUBLIC transport 2 x train for many miles and presumably at least 2 x tube journeys in london too plus actually worked in HOC too. Plus hypocritical as she had criticised other rule breakers including DC. I am not aware of DC criticising others. The old saying people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones springs to mind here

Absolutely

@prettybird, she may be off the hook for that. You cannot resign from being an MP. In order to leave parliament before an election (and without dying) you need to be given a fictitious "special" job which is incompatible with being an MP, so you have to vacate your seat.

She must go. Her actions were much worse than those of Cummings, in my eyes. Utterly indefensible.

(SNP voter)

I did vaguely once know that Arkadia but I'd forgotten

The thing is, we only just had a Westminster election. It could be 4 hours until we get another one. It's ridiculous that this woman can carry on claiming her salary for doing fuck all until the next election.

Withdrawing the whip - big deal. Just like they did to McGarry who has had how many fraud trials now? She carries on as an independent. And your man who was sending inappropriate texts to boys, although I think he's a MSP.

This really needs to change.

4 hours? 4 YEARS.

Nicola's just called Margaret Ferrier 'Margaret Covid'
Typhoid Mary springs to mind