LONDON (Reuters) – A lawmaker from Nicola Sturgeon’s ruling Scottish National Party (SNP) was suspended on Thursday after travelling home by train from London to Scotland despite having received a positive test result for COVID-19.
Margaret Ferrier was told her test was positive on Monday after she had spoken in Britain’s parliament at Westminster.
“On Monday evening I received a positive test result for COVID-19. I travelled home by train on Tuesday morning without seeking advice. This was … wrong and I am sorry,” she said in a statement.
The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford said on Twitter he was suspending her.
It is mandatory in England for people to self-isolate if they test positive for the coronavirus, with fines of 1,000 pounds for those who breach the rules.
The opposition Labour party’s Scotland spokesman had earlier said the SNP should condemn Ferrier and discipline her.
It can’t be one rule for Margaret Ferrier, and one rule for everyone else,” Ian Murray said on Twitter.
Breaches of virus-prevention rules by policy-makers are eagerly seized upon by Britain’s newspapers.
In May, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s most senior adviser Dominic Cummings refused to quit after it emerged he had driven 250 miles (402 km) from London to northern England when all but essential travel was forbidden.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)
