MP Mike Amesbury has been jailed for 10 weeks after punching a man in the street – and has been kicked out of the Labour Party.
The Runcorn and Helsby MP pleaded guilty in January to assault by beating of 45-year-old Paul Fellows in Main Street, Frodsham, Cheshire, in the early hours of 26 October.
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As well as a 10-week jail sentence, Amesbury, 55, must pay £200 compensation to Mr Fellows.
Amesbury had been drinking in the town in his constituency where he lives before arriving at a taxi rank, where Mr Fellows approached him to complain about the closure of the Sutton Weaver swing bridge.
The court heard how, after punching Mr Fellows in the head and knocking him to the ground, Amesbury punched him a further five times on the ground before members of the public intervened.
As he was being held back, he told Mr Fellows: “You won’t threaten your MP again, will you?”
The victim suffered a lump on his head and a graze on his elbow in what the Crown Prosecution Service said was a “persistent assault”.
MP Mike Amesbury outside Chester Ellesmere Port and Neston Magistrates’ Court. Pic: PA
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Amesbury’s future as an MP remains under question as his lawyer indicated he will appeal the sentence.
Otherwise, 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% of constituents sign it.
This will have to wait until the appeal period is over.
Labour suspended Amesbury from the party shortly after the incident, so he has been sitting as an independent.
They have said he will not be admitted back in and called for a by-election, saying his constituents “deserved better” after his “completely unacceptable actions”.
Reform UK also called for Amesbury “to do the honourable thing and resign immediately”.
‘Alarm bells will be ringing’ for PM
Sky News chief political correspondent Jon Craig said while Labour won the seat at last year’s election with a “fairly healthy majority” of more than 14,000, there will be “real nervousness” within the party about holding it.
Reform came second in Runcorn and Helsby at the general election and – given their lead in the national polls – Craig said “alarm bells will be ringing” for Sir Keir Starmer.
Tap here to read Jon Craig’s full analysis.
Mike Amesbury was captured punching a man on CCTV
‘A necessary punishment’
Sentencing Amesbury, deputy senior district judge Tan Ikram said an immediate custodial sentence was “necessary as a punishment and a deterrent”.
The judge added Amesbury, who has been an MP since 2017, would serve 40% of his sentence in custody and will remain on licence for 12 months after his release.
Amesbury’s lawyer requested the judge return to the court moments after he was taken to the cells by two security guards, as he wanted to make a bail application while they appeal his sentence.
The judge returned to court, sat down, paused briefly and said: “Application refused.”
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Amesbury will be taken to HMP Altcourse in Liverpool. Unlike many defendants, he did not appear to have a bag of belongings with him.
After pleading guilty, he described the incident as “highly regrettable” and apologised to Mr Fellows and his family outside the court.
Alison Storey, senior specialist prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service’s special crime division, said Amesbury’s victim did not react aggressively and was alone at the time of the assault.
The net zero sector has grown by 10% over the past year – adding £83bn to the UK economy, a new study suggests.
Employment in green businesses and industry has also climbed 10%, supporting the equivalent of 951,000 full-time jobs (2.9% of total UK employment).
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The study – commissioned by thinktank the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) – found for every £1 of value generated by the net zero economy, an additional £1.89 was created in the wider economy.
It report was published as the government increases efforts to meet a legally binding goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero overall (that’s net zero) by 2050.
Some Conservative and Reform MPs have criticised net zero, electric cars and renewables, suggesting efforts to curb climate change are to blame for higher energy bills and the deindustrialisation of Britain.
But the report, with analysis from CBI Economics and the Data City, suggests the UK’s net zero economy is a significant driver of growth, innovation, and productivity.
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Renewables, electric vehicles, low carbon heating, recycling and green finance are all part of the net zero sector.
Small and medium businesses with fewer than 250 employees are the main drivers of growth, and salaries are 15% higher than the UK average (£43,100, compared with £37,430).
Regions beyond London and the South East are where the net zero economy is growing significantly, the report found, boosting some of the country’s most deprived areas.
The West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, and southwest England were the largest contributors, each more than 5% of the national total, while Scotland’s net zero economy has grown by 21.3% since 2022 – now worth £9.1bn.
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RWE’s Gwynt y Mor, off the coast of North Wales, is the world’s fifth largest offshore wind farm. Pic: Ben Birchall/PA
Tyne and Teesside was also highlighted as a hotspot thanks to a £1bn Nissan electric vehicle project, which includes a gigafactory for next-gen batteries. It is creating 6,200 jobs.
London and the South East are still leading the way, with £16.2bn and £13.1bn of green investment respectively.
Overall, the sector attracted £23bn of public, private and foreign direct investment – and each full-time job generated £105,000 in economic value, well above the UK average, the report found.
‘You can’t have growth without green’
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the findings showed “net zero is essential to growth, a strong economy, and money in working people’s pockets”.
Making Britain “a clean energy superpower” will provide “energy security, good jobs, and investment in our communities”, he added.
Louise Hellem, chief economist at the CBI, said “there are huge emerging markets for green technologies that the UK must capitalise on”.
“It is clear, you can’t have growth without green,” she said.
Friedrich Merz, who is set to become the new German chancellor, has vowed to “create unity” in Europe as it adjusts to the new Trump administration and Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Mr Merz’s task will be complicated by the need to form a coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats of outgoing chancellor Olaf Scholz, who will remain in office for the immediate future.
He has repeatedly pledged not to work with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, despite its second-place finish but which is under observation by the country’s intelligence agency for suspected right-wing extremism.
Mr Merz’s conservative Christian Democrats and their Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union, which won with 28.5% of the votes, and the Social Democrats have a combined 328 seats in the 630-seat parliament.
The 69-year-old, who put toughening Germany’s immigration laws at the forefront of the election campaign, said he hopes to complete a deal by Easter.
Experts believe this could prove to be a challenging timescale as the rivals try to find common ground over key policies.
Co-leader of the Social Democrats, Lars Klingbeil, indicated a deal with Mr Merz is not a formality.
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He said: “The ball is in Friedrich Merz’s court. Only the course of any talks will show whether a government can be formed.”
With US President Donald Trump back in the White House and tensions rising over how to resolve the war in Ukraine, Mr Merz wants to unify Europe in the face of challenges from the US and Russia.
“I have no illusions at all about what is happening from America,” he told supporters.
“We are under such massive pressure… my absolute priority now is really to create unity in Europe.”
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At a media conference later, he added: “There are three topics we need to talk about. Of course, external and security policy – especially following the statements coming out of Washington.
“It is clear that we as Europeans need to be able to act swiftly. We need to be able to defend ourselves. That is a topic that is a top priority in the next few weeks.”
Mr Merz said he remains “hopeful” of maintaining the transatlantic relationship, but warned if it “is destroyed, it will not only be to the detriment of Europe, it will also be to the detriment of America”.
On the other key issues, he added: “Another important topic is the immigration – that is an area where we have proposals. I suppose the Social Democrats will be prepared to talk to us about this as well.
“The third topic is the economic situation. We have to protect work in the industrial sector in Germany.”
He also earlier used social media to say “Europe stands unwaveringly by Ukraine’s side” and how “we must put Ukraine in a position of strength”.
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