Fiona Onasanya, pictured arriving at the Old Bailey this morning. She will be leaving in a prison van this afternoon after she was handed a three-month jail sentence

Disgraced Labour MP Fiona Onasanya has been urged to 'do the decent thing' and resign after she was jailed for three months.

The 35-year-old was found guilty of lying to police to dodge a speeding ticket but has so far refused to step down from her Peterborough seat.

Her constituents could force a by-election if 10 per cent of them sign a petition which is triggered automatically by the prison term.

But the petition cannot begin until Onasanya has appealed against her conviction, which could take months.

Onasanya, who has been expelled by the Labour Party, will continue to draw her £77,000 salary in prison if she does not vacate the seat.

Parliamentary rules dictate that only MPs jailed for 12 months or more are automatically forced to step down.

After the jail term was announced some of her constituents took to social media to demand their MP's resignation.

Steven Farndale tweeted: 'And to think... @FionaOnasanyaMP Is supposed to be my MP.

'The sooner the bloody liar steps down and stops taking tax payers for a ride the better.'

Another Twitter user said: 'Labour have already sacked her as will the constituents of Peterborough. Get the LIAR out of parliament.'

Both Labour and Conservatives joined constituents urging her to 'do the decent thing' and step down.

A Labour Party spokesman said she had 'let the voters of Peterborough down' and should have resigned when she was convicted in December.

He said: 'However, today's sentence gives Fiona one last opportunity to act honourably and resign from Parliament. She should do this without delay and not take another penny in salary from the public purse.

Tories target by-election The jailing of Fiona Onasanya could lead to a dramatic by-election in one of the country’s most marginal seats. An MP is automatically removed from Parliament only if he or she is sentenced to 12 months or more in prison. But under laws introduced in 2015 the disgraced Labour MP’s three-month sentence means a petition will eventually be triggered, paving the way to a parliamentary race. The petition can be started only once Onasanya’s appeal against her conviction has finished – a process that could take several months. Once the petition is initiated it will remain open for six weeks, with the MP losing her seat and a by-election triggered if 10 per cent of the electorate add their names. This means about 7,000 voters in the Peterborough constituency will need to sign the register in order for another parliamentary race to go ahead. Labour’s Peterborough branch yesterday said it would shortly select a candidate after a ‘robust’ procedure involving the party’s national executive committee. The Conservatives already have an eye on the constituency, having chosen Paul Bristow as a candidate last October. Onasanya won the seat by only 607 votes in 2017. Advertisement

'If Fiona does not resign, Labour will support local residents in their efforts to trigger a by-election through a recall petition.'

Daniel Zeichner, the Labour MP for Cambridge, admitted his party had been forced to rush through Onasanya's selection during the snap election campaign in 2017.

He said Onasanya had been chosen as Labour candidate in a 'shortened process when the Prime Minister called a snap General Election in 2017'.

A Conservative Party spokesman said: 'She cannot possibly represent her constituents from prison and should do the decent thing and immediately step down.

'If she doesn't, we will campaign to use a recall petition to ensure that the residents of Peterborough can have their say in a by-election for a new MP.

'Labour are ignoring the democratic vote of Peterborough and are doing all they can to frustrate Brexit for political purposes. The people of Peterborough deserve a Conservative MP who will respect their views.'



Earlier Onasanya became the first sitting female MP to be jailed, after lying to investigators when her car was caught doing 41mph in a 30mph zone in July 2017.

The judge told her: 'It is not one law for those in a position of responsibility and power and another for those that are not.'

Onasanya's Nissan Micra was caught doing 41mph in a 30mph zone, an offence which would usually attract a fine. However, her attempts to evade justice have landed her in prison

Her brother Festus (left) was also jailed after colluding with his sister Fiona Onasnya (right). He was jailed for 10 months

She has refused to apologise since she was convicted at the Old Bailey last year and - in an extraordinary outburst - likened herself to Jesus and Moses.

Jailing her today, Mr Justice Stuart-Smith said he had taken into account that the MP suffers from multiple sclerosis and her career was over.

'It is a tragedy that you find yourselves and here in this predicament, but it is a tragedy that you have bought upon yourselves,' he added.

'You have not simply let yourself down, you have let down those who look to you for inspiration, your party, your profession and Parliament.'

He lawyer, Christine Agnew QC, told the court: 'She will inevitably be struck off as a solicitor. Her life as a politician and as a solicitor have effectively come to an end.

'The point that has cried out from this case from the outset - why on earth put everything at stake for the sake of, at most, three penalty points and a fine?'

Onasanya plotted to dodge penalty points with the help of her brother Festus, who admitted perverting the course of justice and was jailed for 10 months.

An appeal will add to the public bill for the case, which has already involved court costs of £500,000.

Onasanya had previously indicated she intends to stay an MP, despite her criminal conviction

What are the rules on jailed MPs? Under the Representation of the People Act, any MP jailed in the UK or Ireland for more than a year is disqualified from membership of the House of Commons. Their seat will automatically be vacated and a by-election will be held to elect a replacement. The rule was brought in after IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands was elected as MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone while imprisoned. However, under laws introduced in 2015, any prison term, even a suspended sentence, leads to a recall petition, which can force a by-election if signed by 10% of constituents. Delays to this process while an appeal is heard could mean that, in Onasanya's case, she continues to be paid to be as an MP while sitting in the prison cell. Advertisement

The guilty verdict against the MP was delivered in a retrial after a previous case ended in a hung jury.

Onasanya notified the Court of Appeal of her plans to appeal against her conviction on New Year's Eve. It is not clear what grounds she will use.

The court was previously told that she was sent a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) to fill out, but it was sent back naming the guilty driver as Aleks Antipow, an acquaintance of her brother Festus, who was away visiting his parents in Russia.

Festus pleaded guilty to three counts of perverting the course of justice over speeding, including over the July 24 incident.

In the wake of the guilty verdict, Onasanya was expelled from the Labour Party and has launched an appeal against her conviction.

Onasanya had previously indicated she intends to stay in the House of Commons, writing in her column in the Peterborough Telegraph that constituents should 'rest assured' that she would remain their representative fighting injustice in the corridors of power.

The 35-year-old solicitor took the marginal Peterborough seat with a majority of just 607 from Tory Stewart Jackson at the 2017 election just 18 months ago.

The trained solicitor will be unable to practise law upon her release.

Labour and Conservatives demand she stand down and let people of Peterborough elect a new representative

The two main political parties today both demanded Fiona Onasanya do the honourable thing and quit as a MP.

A Labour Party spokesman said: 'Fiona Onasanya has let the voters of Peterborough down.

'When she was found guilty she should have immediately done the decent thing and resigned.

'However today's sentence gives Fiona one last opportunity to act honourably and resign from Parliament.

'She should do this without delay and not take another penny in salary from the public purse.'

Onasanya was expelled from Labour after her conviction and the party vowed to support a recall petition and 'fight any by-election vigorously'.

A Conservative Party spokesman said: 'Labour's Fiona Onasanya has let Peterborough down. She cannot possibly represent her constituents from prison and should do the decent thing and immediately step down.

'If she doesn't, we will campaign to use a recall petition to ensure that the residents of Peterborough can have their say in a by-election for a new MP.'