Nicola Sturgeon has made it “crystal clear” to Margaret Ferrier that she should resign after she broke self-isolation rules.
The SNP MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West admitted travelling to Parliament and speaking in the Commons after developing coronavirus symptoms, and then taking a train back to Scotland after testing positive.
The first minister described her behaviour as “reckless, dangerous and completely indefensible”, adding: “I feel very angry on behalf of all of you…I’ve spoken to her directly and made crystal clear to her that she should resign.”
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford also said Ferrier’s position as an MP is untenable after she broke the rules.
Mr Blackford said she had made a “tremendous error of judgment” and now must “do the right thing for her constituents”.
He said Ms Ferrier’s SNP whip was withdrawn on Thursday morning when the party learned of her breaches of coronavirus rules.
Mr Blackford told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “She has to reflect on the circumstances that she is now in.”
Asked if he is calling for her to resign, Mr Blackford said: “I would say to her that her position isn’t tenable, given the circumstances that we’re in, and she has to accept her own responsibilities of what she must do. I can’t force that upon her, she is no longer an SNP MP.
“I’m pretty angry at what has happened, it is not acceptable.
“It’s important that it is beyond reproach that everybody, absolutely everybody, must obey the rules and we have to think about the signal that gives the public and the sacrifices that people are having to make, and it’s in the light of that that Margaret will have to do the right thing.”
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