A disgraced MP has pleaded with voters not to remove her from the House of Commons as she insisted she is innocent – despite being found guilty by a court.

A recall petition will open on Tuesday, in which local voters will be asked whether Fiona Onasanya should lose her seat as MP for Peterborough.

It comes after the 35-year-old lied about a speeding charge and was sentenced to three months in prison for perverting the course of justice.

A by-election will be triggered in her Peterborough seat if more than 10% of voters in the constituency sign the recall petition.

However, if less than around 7,000 voters don’t sign the petition, Onasanya will keep her job as an MP and £77,379 salary.

Even if the recall petition is successful, Onasanya will still have the opportunity to contest the resulting by-election.

Ahead of the opening of the petition, which can be signed at ten venues across the constituency, Onasanya asked voters to keep her in a job.

Appearing in front of a blue screen in a video posted on her Twitter account, she said her wish to be voters’ “voice of change in the corridors of power” had been “somewhat overshadowed” by her conviction.

Onasanya was found guilty by an Old Bailey jury, while she lost an appeal against her conviction earlier this month when judges ruled there was “absolutely no basis” for a challenge.

But, she said in the Twitter video: “Throughout the last few months, you would have seen news articles, television articles, and also read on social media about my case.

“And, all of this time, I have not been able to share my side. But, just like a coin has two sides, so does a story.

“And this is my time now to share with you, without media spin, what my side of the story is.

“From the outset, I have maintained my innocence. I have not perverted the course of justice.

“I have not colluded with my brother. My defence was never put across in the media.

“At all times, they always put forward the prosecution’s case.”

In the video, Onasanya did not provide any further details about her case.

But she vowed to “continue to pursue avenues to clear my name”, adding: “If you wish for me to continue as your independent MP, I am willing and able to do so, but the choice is now in your hands.”

Onasanya, who served four weeks of her jail sentence, won the Peterborough seat as Labour’s candidate in 2017 with a slim 607 majority.

Following her conviction, she was expelled by Labour and faced calls by the party to resign her seat.

She refused, prompting Labour to say they will “actively support” efforts to trigger a by-election in Peterborough.

Jurors at Onsanya’s trial heard she colluded with her brother Festus after her car was recorded doing 41mph in a 30mph zone in Thorney, a village near Peterborough, in July 2017 – just weeks after she was elected to parliament.

Festus Onasanya was given a jail sentence of 10 months after he pleaded guilty to three counts of perverting the course of justice over speeding, including the 24 July incident.

Since being released from prison, the MP has returned to the Commons – reportedly wearing an electronic ankle tag – to vote against the prime minister’s Brexit deal.

Source: Read Full Article