UK MP Mike Amesbury has been jailed for 10 weeks for assault, triggering a process that is likely to lead to the first parliamentary by-election since the Labour government was elected last year.
The politician, who has been suspended by the Labour party, received the prison sentence at Chester Magistrates’ Court on Monday after he punched a man in the street after a night out.
Deputy chief magistrate Tan Ikram said the offence was “too serious” for community work. “The courts treat all who come before it as equals,” the judge said.
Amesbury, 55, pleaded guilty to assault by beating last month after the incident in Frodsham, Cheshire, in the early hours of October 26.
The court heard that Amesbury had been engaged in an argument with a man, Paul Fellows, who he knew from school, about a bridge closure. Both men had been drinking.
Video footage showed the MP punching Fellows to the ground and he can be heard shouting: “You won’t threaten . . . [an] MP ever again, will you?”
Passing the sentence, the judge highlighted that the attack was unprovoked and that the MP continued to punch the victim when he was on the ground.
The assault “may well not have come to an end” had a bystander not intervened, the judge said.
Being drunk “is no excuse and as a member of parliament, you could reasonably expect robust challenge from constituents and members of the public”, the judge told Amesbury.
The decision paves the way for a recall petition that may lead to a by-election. The petition is held if an MP receives a custodial sentence and after all appeals are exhausted.
The petition is open for six weeks, and a by-election will be triggered if 10 per cent of his registered constituency voters sign.
A by-election would also be held if Amesbury were to resign as an MP.
Amesbury represents Runcorn and Helsby and has been an MP since 2017. He won the seat last July with a majority of 14,696. Reform UK came second with 7,662 votes.
Reform’s chair, Zia Yusuf, said: “The great people of Runcorn deserve far better than waiting six weeks for a recall petition to take place. We call on Mike Amesbury to do the honourable thing and resign immediately so a by-election can be held.”
Amesbury was suspended by Labour following the policy investigation into the assault, but has remained an independent MP.
Losing his seat through a recall petition would not prevent Amesbury from standing as an independent in the resulting by-election, as individuals are only disqualified from serving as an MP if they receive a prison sentence of more than one year.
