Fiona Onasanya’s voters will today get the chance to unseat disgraced MP in recall petition – after she refused to quit £77,379 job despite being jailed for lying about speeding offence

• Former Labour MP Fiona Onasanya has not stepped down despite being convicted and jailed for perverting the course of justice
• She voted against the PM’s Brexit deal last week while wearing an electronic tag 
• From today voters in Peterborough have a chance to trigger a by-election
• If more than 10 per cent of her constituents say she should be recalled she will lose her seat – but can stand in a subsequent contest

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A petition has opened that could unseat disgraced MP Fiona Onasanya, who was jailed after being convicted of perverting the course of justice by lying about a speeding offence.

Onasanya, 35, served 28 days of a three-month prison sentence and has continued to receive her £77,379 salary.

A recall petition for voters in Peterborough opened today and her constituents will have six weeks to sign before it closes at 5pm on May 1.

If it attracts the signatures of 10 per cent of eligible voters – about 7,000 people – Ms Onasanya will be forced out and a by-election called – although, under recall rules brought in after the MPs expenses scandal, she would remain eligible to stand for re-election.

• ‘I am telling you I am innocent’: Ex-Labour MP Fiona… Disgraced ex-Labour MP Fiona Onasanya votes against May’s…

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Recall Petitions: when were they introduced and how do they work?

Is this new?

Yes. The Recall of MPs Act 2015 came into force on 4 March 2016.

How can a recall petition be triggered? 

The petition is opened automatically if an MP:

• is convicted of an offence and receives a custodial sentence (including a suspended sentence) of more than 12 months
• is barred from the House of Commons for 10 sitting days or 14 calendar days
• or is convicted of providing false or misleading information for allowance claims under the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009.

What happens now?

Once a Petition Officer has opened a recall petition, it will be open for signing for six weeks. 

If at least 10 per cent of the electorate in the constituency signs the petition, the MP will lose their seat and a by-election will be triggered.

The recalled MP can stand as a candidate at the by-election.

Source: The Electoral Commisison

Yesterday Onasanya posted a video in which she pleaded with voters to let her continue as their representative in Parliament.

In the clip, recorded in front of an image of a city skyline, she claims she is innocent of perverting the course of justice.

She said the media had only reported the prosecution’s case – but then provided no details to support her claim she had not colluded with her brother.

She is the second MP, and the first representing an English constituency, to be subjected to a recall petition since the procedure was introduced in 2015 to give voters a means of ousting errant MPs in between elections.

North Antrim MP Ian Paisley Jr narrowly avoided recall last year when 9.4 per cent of eligible constituents signed a petition demanding his removal after he was suspended from Parliament for failing to declare a holiday paid for by the Sri Lankan government.

Ms Onasanya was elected for Labour in the Cambridgeshire city in 2017 by a wafer-thin majority of 607 votes, but was expelled from the party after her conviction.

She was not subject to automatic removal as an MP as her sentence was less than 12 months, and has resisted calls to resign her role.

Recall petitions are launched when MPs receive a custodial sentence – including suspended sentences – are barred from the Commons for 10 sitting days or are convicted of providing false information about their expenses.

Today is the first day that voters in Peterborough are being given the opportunity to sign a petition to force a by-election following the Fiona Onasanya’s conviction for lying about a speeding offence

Yesterday she protested her innocence despite her conviction but did not explain how the court had reached what she said was the wrong verdict

Voters in Peterborough will be allocated to one of 10 signing stations around the constituency and can also apply to make a postal or proxy signature.

Peterborough’s petition officer Gillian Beasley said no updates on the progress of the petition would be made while it remains open

After it closes, the result will be sent to the Commons Speaker and Peterborough City Council will await his reply before publishing it.

The petition process will cost around £500,000, funded by central government.

Onasanya has continued to protest her innocence and last week voted against Theresa May’s Brexit deal in the House of Commons while wearing an electronic ankle tag.

Jurors at the Old Bailey were told that she colluded with her brother Festus after her car was clocked speeding at 41mph in a 30mph zone in the village of Thorney, near Peterborough, in July 2017.

She was sent a notice of intended prosecution to fill out, but it was sent back naming the guilty driver as Aleks Antipow, an acquaintance of her brother, who was away visiting his parents in Russia.

Festus Onasanya, 34, from Cambridge, was jailed for 10 months after he admitted three counts of perverting the course of justice over speeding, including the July 24 incident.

A YouGov survey conducted in January found that of more than 4,000 people polled, 81 per cent thought Onasanya should resign.

In 2013, former Cabinet minister Liberal Democrat MP Chris Huhne resigned from Parliament after pleading guilty in a similar case.

He and his former wife Vicky Pryce were both jailed for eight months for a case in which, ten years previously, she had agreed to take speeding points he should have accrued, by telling police she was driving the car.

Sentences in such cases are set deliberately high for nonviolent offences as a deterrent – because police know the likelihood of catching on offender is very low, and because perverting the course of justice is a crime against the legal system itself.

After his guilty plea, the former energy secretary said: ‘Having taken responsibility for something that happened 10 years ago, the only proper course of action for me is to resign my Eastleigh seat in Parliament, which I will do very shortly.’ 

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