Keir Starmer breaks silence on Mike Amesbury after Labor MP suspended for ‘hitting’ man | Politics | News

Video footage of MP Mike Amesbury punching a man to the ground is “shocking”, sir Keir Starmer has admitted, while defending Labour’s decision to suspend him.

The Prime Minister said the party had responded “very quickly” after the images emerged.

Mr Amesbury was suspended from the party and lost the Labor whip on Sunday after a clip was published by MailOnline showing the Runcorn and Helsby MP apparently continuing to punch the man lying on the ground as people nearby shouted “Stop it”.

Sir Keir dodged whether Mr Amesbury should resign as MP, but said: ‘I have seen the video footage, it is shocking.

“We took very swift action to suspend him as a member and as an MP.

“A police investigation is now underway and you will understand that, given the circumstances, I cannot say much more about it.”

A Labor Party spokesman said yesterday: “Mike Amesbury MP has been assisting Cheshire Police with their investigation following an incident on Friday evening.

“As these investigations are now ongoing, the Labor Party has administratively suspended Mr. Amesbury’s membership of the Labor Party pending an investigation.”

This automatically results in the suspension of the Labor whip in the House of Commons.

Before the suspension was confirmed, Reform UK called on Mr Amesbury to resign.

A spokesperson for Reform UK said: “The new images of MP Mike Amesbury are damning. Regardless of what verbal exchanges may have taken place before, it is never acceptable for anyone to resort to violence to resolve a dispute, let alone a sitting MP.

‘It’s quite clear that the people of Runcorn and Helsby deserve much better than this.

“Reform UK today calls on Mike Amesbury to do the honorable thing and resign immediately so that a by-election can be held.”

Reform came second to Labor in Runcon and Helsby in July and will undoubtedly target the seat should Mr Amesbury be forced to give up his seat.

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