Fiona Onasanya MP has been suspended from the Labour Party after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice, raising the possibility of a by-election.
Ms Onasanya was found guilty at an Old Bailey retrial on Wednesday of lying to police over who was behind the wheel of a speeding car, the BBC reports.
The Peterborough MP had lied about being behind the wheel when going 11 miles over the speed limit in a 30-mile-an-hour zone in July 2017.
She had been accused of colluding with her brother Festus Onasanya, 33, to avoid getting three points on her licence by concocting a story that a former lodger, who was out of the country at the time, had been driving her car.
Festus earlier pleaded guilty of three counts of perverting the course of justice.
Labour MP Who Employed Drug Con Son Resigns After Threatening to ‘Smash’ Journalist’s Face with Bat https://t.co/3vzekiMv6x
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) December 2, 2018
Donna Rayner, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said after the sentencing, “Fiona Onasanya and her brother Festus both lied to the authorities in the hope they could avoid the consequences of their speeding offences.
“Fiona Onsanya denied perverting the course of justice but the CPS presented evidence that her phone was in the area when the speeding took place and the man she had nominated as the driver was, in fact, out of the country. Clearly the jury did not believe her explanation.”
Both the MP and her brother will be sentenced in January.
A Labour spokesman said that Ms Onasanya had been “administratively suspended” from the party, adding: “The Labour Party is deeply disappointed in Fiona Onasanya’s behaviour. It falls well below what is expected of politicians. She should now resign.”
The verdict raises the possibility of a by-election for the Peterborough constituency, which the 35-year-old won in the 2017 General Election, beating incumbent Conservative Party politician Stewart Jackson by just 607 votes.
She could still keep the seat as an independent if forced to resign from Labour — but if she is jailed for more than a year, that should lead to automatic disqualification from the House of Commons.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.