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Former Labour MP Mike Amesbury has said he will stand down from parliament after he was sentenced for punching a constituent, which will trigger the first by-election since Sir Keir Starmer became prime minister last July.
The Runcorn and Helsby MP said on Monday he would begin the process of winding up his office and resigning from the House of Commons “as soon as possible”.
He was given a 10-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, for assaulting one of his constituents. Amesbury told the BBC he regretted the attack “every moment, every day”.
The by-election will be seen as a gauge of the popularity not only of the ruling Labour administration after eight months but also of the populist right-wing Reform UK, which is currently slightly ahead in the opinion polls.
As part of his suspended sentence Amesbury must go on an anger management course, do 200 hours of unpaid work, go through an alcohol monitoring programme and complete 20 days of rehabilitation work.
