MP Mike Amesbury arriving at court on Thursday (Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
Sir Keir Starmer faces a by-election nightmare after MP Mike Amesbury pleaded guilty to assaulting a man.
Reform is to pull out all the stops in a bid to win his Cheshire seat if Amesbury, who was elected as a Labour MP, is forced to resign from the House of Commons.
Party leader is to lead the charge in a bid to strike a devastating blow to Labour and prove that Reform is a potential government in waiting.
A Reform source said: “Reform have already sent a letter to every house in the constituency from Nigel and have been campaigning every weekend.
“It’s a tough seat to win but we will be giving it our all.”
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Reform came second in Amesbury’s seat of Runcorn and Helsby, in Cheshire, at the General Election last year. Reform believes it is in a position to make major gains in the North-west region in future elections.
Amesbury had already been suspended from the Labour Party after a video emerged showing him punching a man to the ground in his constituency at 2.45am on October 26 last year.
He has now pleaded guilty at Chester Magistrates’ Court to assaulting the 45-year-old Paul Fellows.
Alison Storey, prosecuting, told the court that the incident took place at a taxi rank. Ms Storey said Amesbury punched Mr Fellows to the head, knocking him to the ground.
Amesbury followed Mr Fellows onto the road after he fell and started to punch him again, at least five times, she said.
District Judge Tanveer Ikram said: “This case is within the high culpability category. I accept that the injury was not serious, the sentencing guideline suggests a sentence starting point of a high level community order or a range up to a prison sentence.”
He adjourned the case to February 24 for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman declined to comment on whether Amesbury should now resign as an MP. He remains in the House of Commons for now, as an independent member.
If he is sentenced to a year or more in jail, he will automatically be expelled. If he is given a shorter sentence, including a suspended jail term, a by-election would be triggered if 10% of registered voters in his seat sign a petition calling for it.
Amesbury could also simply choose to stand down.
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Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf said on Thursday: “Today Mike Amesbury has pleaded guilty to assault.
“The great people of Runcorn deserve far better than this.
“We call on Mike Amesbury to do the honourable thing and resign immediately so a by-election can be held.”
Labour has a majority of 14,696 in Runcorn and Helsby suggesting Reform would have a mountain to climb despite coming second last year. However, it would be a huge coup for ’s team if they did take the seat.
Reform is targeting a number of North-west seats held by Labour including Ashton-under-Lyne, where the MP is Deputy Prime Minister , and Stalybridge and Hyde, currently represented by Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds.