LONDON (Reuters) – Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon lambasted one of her lawmakers on Thursday for taking a long train journey back from London up 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.
Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Sturgeon lambasted Ferrier for her “utterly indefensible” actions.
“It’s hard to express just how angry I feel on behalf of people across the country making hard sacrifices every day to help beat COVID,” Sturgeon said on Twitter. “The rules apply to everyone and they’re in place to keep people safe.”
The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford said earlier that he was suspending Ferrier.
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.
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 and William Schomberg; editing by Stephen Addison)
