Keir Starmer to face crucial test in Scotland after by-election is triggered by voters in Rutherglen and Hamilton West as they kick out Covid rule-breaking MP Margaret Ferrier
- The ex-SNP MP has lost her seat in the House of Commons via a recall petition
Local voters have kicked out Covid rule-breaking MP Margaret Ferrier to force a by-election in Rutherglen and Hamilton West.
The former SNP MP has lost her seat in the House of Commons due to a successful recall petition.
More than 10 per cent of local voters signed the petition and so triggered Ms Ferrier’s removal from Parliament.
A by-election in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, likely to be held in the autumn, will be a crunch test of Labour’s bid to win back Scottish voters.
Sir Keir Starmer’s chances of victory at the next general election will be greatly improved if Labour can win back a slew of seats in Scotland.
They currently only have one Scottish MP but have been buoyed by a recent boost to their polling performance in Scotland.
This has coincided with the SNP’s meltdown in the wake of Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation as party leader and first minister.
Following Labour’s near-wipeout in Scotland at the 2015 general election, polling experts have consistently pointed to the party’s challenge in winning back Scottish voters as key to their chances of forming a government again.
Local voters have kicked out Covid rule-breaking MP Margaret Ferrier to force a by-election in Rutherglen and Hamilton West
Keir Starmer pictured with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar during a visit to Rutherglen in May
Ms Ferrier became SNP MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West in 2015 when she beat the Labour incumbent in the seat.
She narrowly lost the seat to Labour at the 2017 general election, but then took it back two years later in 2019.
The 62-year-old was kicked out of the SNP after she was revealed to have broken Covid rules.
She developed coronavirus symptoms on 26 September 2020 and took a test, but still went to church and had lunch with a family member the following day.
While awaiting the result of the test, Ms Ferrier travelled by train to London, took part in a Commons debate and ate in the MPs’ tea room in Parliament.
That evening she received a text telling her the test was positive. But instead of isolating, she travelled back to Scotland by train the following morning.
Ms Ferrier was ordered to complete a 270-hour community payback order by a court after admitting culpably and recklessly exposing the public ‘to the risk of infection, illness and death’.
Earlier this year, the Commons’ Committee on Standards recommended Ms Ferrier be suspended from Parliament for 30 days for damaging the reputation of the House.
The length of the suspension led to the recall petition, which opened on 20 June and closed yesterday.
In the result announced tonight, South Lanarkshire Council revealed 11,896 of local voters in Rutherglen and Hamilton West had validly signed the petition.
This was 14.66 per cent of the electorate in the constituency, which passed the 10 per cent threshold for removing Ms Ferrier from the Commons.
Ms Ferrier will be able to stand as an candidate in the upcoming by-election under the terms of the Recall of MPs Act 2015.
