Mike Amesbury has said he will stand down as an MP at the “earliest [possible] opportunity” in a move that will trigger the first by-election of this parliament.
The former Labour MP was last month given a 10-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, for punching a constituent in the street.
Amesbury, who has been sitting as an independent MP in the House of Commons since he was suspended by Labour in October, has now revealed he is going to step down “as quickly as possible”.
In his first interview since his sentencing, Amesbury told the BBC he “regrets” attacking constituent Paul Fellows “every moment, every day”.
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Asked about his future, he said: “I’m going to step aside at the earliest opportunity.
“I’ve got processes I must go through — there’s a statutory process in terms of redundancies.”
Amesbury insisted he would have fought to stay on as an MP had he been given a lighter community sentence, but said he believed he had been “punished accordingly” for the incident.
MPs who receive a custodial sentence, even if it is suspended, automatically trigger a recall petition which could result in a by-election if 10 per cent of constituents sign it.
Amesbury’s decision to quit means no recall petition will be triggered.
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By-election time! First of the new Parliament, and an interesting one too…Labour have a 35 point majority in Amesbury’s seat of Runcorn & Helsby (formerly Weaver Vale), which looks big, but these are volatile times, and ReformUK are in 2nd placewww.bbc.co.uk/news/article…
— Rob Ford (@robfordmancs.bsky.social) 2025-03-10T17:44:21.441Z
MPs cannot technically resign from the House of Commons, but they can be appointed to the defunct roles of either crown steward and bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds or crown steward and bailiff of the Manor of Northstead by the Treasury.
At the 2024 general election, Amesbury won his Runcorn and Helsby constituency for Labour with 22,358 votes (52.9 per cent).
Reform UK candidate Jason Moorcroft finished second on 7,662 votes (18.1 per cent).
The Conservative Party candidate, Jade Marsden, came third with 6,756 votes (16.0 per cent).
No other party achieved over 10 per cent of the vote.
Amesbury spent three nights in jail last month after he was handed an immediate 10-week sentence at Chester Magistrates’ Court. However, Chester Crown Court later suspended his sentence, allowing him to serve his time in the community instead of behind bars.
Amesbury told the BBC he carried out casework for his constituents even while behind bars.
“I actually picked up some casework in prison,” Amesbury said, as his office manager forwarded on “correspondence”.
“Life doesn’t stop as an MP”, he added.
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.
Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for all the latest news and analysis.
By-election in Runcorn and Helsby would be major test for Labour — and for Nigel Farage
