Mike Amesbury, the former Labour MP for Runcorn and Helsby, was sentenced to ten weeks in prison on 24 February for repeatedly punching a constituent in October last year.
After spending three days in prison, Amesbury’s initial sentence was overturned during an appeal hearing on 27 February. The sentence has been suspended for two years.
Amesbury was also ordered to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work, 20 days of rehabilitation work, an alcohol monitoring programme, and an anger management course.
According to parliamentary rules, Amesbury’s sentence means a recall petition will automatically be initiated in Runcorn and Helsby, unless he decides to appeal or resign.
A recall petition gives voters in an MP’s constituency six weeks to sign the petition for their MP’s removal. If a minimum 10 per cent of voters sign the petition, the MP is removed and a by-election is triggered.
A by-election in Runcorn and Helsby would be the first under the incumbent Labour government.
Amesbury was suspended from the Labour Party when video footage of the assault surfaced. He resigned from the party in January and is currently sitting as an independent MP.
The Labour Party said that residents in Amesbury’s constituency “deserved better” representation “in the future with a new Labour MP.”
In the 2024 general election, Amesbury won a majority of 53 per cent while Reform UK’s Jason Moorcroft came second, overtaking the Conservative Party by 2 per cent.
Zia Yusuf, chairman of Reform UK, called for Amesbury to “do the honourable thing and resign immediately.”
“Polling Station Belsize Park” by Matt From London is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
