Reform UK has launched its campaign to contest a looming by-election in Runcorn & Helsby after its MP Mike Amesbury was jailed for punching a constituent.
New images shared with GB News from the centre of the Labour safe seat show a van with large screens on the side showing Amesbury standing in front of a police line-up wall, holding a placard reading: “Sign the petition.”
Further footage of the screens show the messages: “Runcorn’s Labour MP punched a constituent”, “He’s going to jail”, and “Runcorn needs Reform UK”.
Nigel Farage’s party is ramping up the pressure to force a by-election in the seat. If 10 per cent of constituents sign a recall petition, voters in Runcorn & Helsby can go to the polls.
Nigel Farage’s party is ramping up the pressure to force a by-election in the seat
REFORM UK
As of Tuesday evening, over 13,000 people have signed Reform’s separate petition demanding Amesbury to resign.
A statement on the party’s petition website reads: “The people of Runcorn & Helsby deserve an MP who upholds the highest standards of public service.”
Amesbury’s “position as an elected representative has become untenable”, it adds, and calls on the disgraced MP “to do the right thing and resign immediately, allowing his constituents to elect a representative they can trust”.
With speculation mounting over who Reform UK might select to stand in a by-election and overturn a sizeable Labour majority from the General Election, a party source told GB News: “Every house in the constituency has already had a letter from Nigel.
MORE ON REFORM UK:
As of Tuesday evening, over 13,000 people have signed Reform’s petition demanding Amesbury to resign
PA
“It’s just about selecting a candidate. It’s going to be an uphill battle – it’s Labour’s 16th safest seat in the country – but we’re going to give it everything.”
Veteran broadcaster Michael Crick, behind the social media account Tomorrow’s MPs, has heaped speculation on two types of candidate for both Reform and Labour – the local councillor, and the national campaigner.
For Reform, the former could be Jason Moorcroft, who contested Runcorn & Helsby last summer – though he told GB News yesterday he had not yet been approached by the party.
While the latter could be “Brexit bad boy” and Leave.EU campaign co-founder Arron Banks, GB News’ Political Editor Christopher Hope reported earlier this week.
Reform UK has yet to select a candidate – but both Arron Banks and Jason Moorcroft have been linked with the role
PA/GETTY
For Labour, the local name Crick has touted is Karen Shore, the deputy leader of Cheshire West & Chester Council – who he reports supported Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership bid.
Shore is said to have applied for the nomination for the Mid Cheshire constituency last summer – but pulled out before the deadline.
While the “national” name could be Jonathan Ashworth, who lost his Leicester South seat to pro-Gaza independent Shockat Adam last summer.
“Party officials think his pugnacity would be ideal, but it would be devastating for Ashworth to lose two seats in one year,” Crick said on social media.