@WaxOnFeckOff
I'm torn here. I'm going to try to take party politics out of it.
Whilst I don't agree with the catastrophising about this having caused people to die, they were probably at equal risk just by being on a train and whatever transport they took to get to the station. She was an elected MP meant to be upholding the rules, regulations and laws that she helped put in place. That's whether or not I agree with them or her politics.
I think it is up to the people who elected her to get rid of her but there should be an easier way for them to express that especially with the restrictions in place.
It's pointless to compare what happened with cummings. If I stab someone, it doesn't mean i get different treatment because someone else hit someone with a hammer. Each situation needs to be looked at in the circumstances and rules/laws that were in place at the time of the event. I'm not a tory or cummings fan but the police looked at it and decided there wasn't a crime I think? They are currently looking at what MF has done and will take it from there.
I absolutely believe she should go but I also think that there is a crossparty need to look at the rules and regulations around removing people unfit for office.
Yes -this. She won't have been the only person with symptoms on the train. She may not have been the only person knowingly travelling when positive. And even then, the vast majority of people on the train with them will be absolutely fine, even sitting in the same carriage. Even if they weren't wearing masks or whatever. And she may well have done what she could to avoid others being infected. I hope she did.
But her actions do, in my opinion make her unfit for office. And that's ignoring the web she was weaving to try to make people believe she was fine and dandy. It sounds like she lied to her party as to why she was leaving London, delayed telling anyone she was positive, didn't make it clear in the first place when she had tested and her movements thereafter (sounds like the SNP initially thought she had tested after getting back to Glasgow), and hasn't offered any justification as to why she did what she did. Nicola S didn't get to hear about it until Thursday lunchtime, when MF found out about the positive test on Monday (though that could be the fault of the SNP team at westminster?). That isn't good, honest conduct of someone who did what she thought was right for her constituents.
I'm on the fence about making it easier to remove elected MPs. There is a process, and I don't think it would be difficult to get 8,000 constituent signatures to recall her assuming that is trigged (though not sure electronic voting is allowed...deffo should be in a pandemic...or some form of postal signing. Cant be bothered to look up the actual process
). She referred herself to the standards committee - but if she isn't censured by them in a nature sufficient to allow that, I agree there should be a reform. Hope it is an open and transparent review and not a committee designed to protect Their Own. But it shouldn't be up to the electorate to start their own petition based on what they think she should/ shouldn't have done - or it could get a bit vigilante...with people recalling an MP just because they don't like the way they voted, or the party they belong to. Which would be problematic in a democracy - especially if it was a close run seat.
Apparently there have only been 3 recall petitions since 2015 when the act was introduced - one under each of the 3 triggers...so there's not a lot to go on. The previous person to be suspended from the House for 30 days by the standards committee was this chap for not declaring hospitality paid for by a foreign government. This is the process (but it may be different in NI). MFs transgression, and attempt to cover it up seems just as bad as this, I'd have thought.