Labour picks candidate to replace shamed Amesbury

Labour has announced that a Cheshire councillor will be its candidate in the forthcoming Runcorn and Helsby by-election.

It follows the recent decision by Mike Amesbury to quit the House of Commons after he was convicted and given a suspended prison sentence for repeatedly punching a constituent in the street.

Amesbury has been sitting as an independent MP since he was suspended by Labour bosses following the assault in Frodsham, Cheshire, in the early hours of 26 October.

Cheshire West and Chester councillor Karen Shore will hope to retain the seat which Amesbury won for Labour at last year's general election with a majority of more than 14,000.

Video footage showed Amesbury, 55, punching Paul Fellows in the head and knocking the 45-year-old to the ground, before hitting him at least five more times.

The former Labour MP was initially handed an immediate 10-week prison term before it was later suspended on appeal.

This meant he was vulnerable to being ousted from Parliament through a process in which jailed MPs can be recalled by constituents.

Amesbury told the BBC he would "step aside at the earliest opportunity".

The date of the Runcorn and Helsby by-election - the first under Sir Keir Starmer's Labour government - has not yet been set.

"Karen Shore will be a champion for the people of Runcorn and Helsby," said Starmer.

"She's local and her experience as a teacher and serving the community as a councillor will give people a strong voice in the House of Commons.

"That's what people in Runcorn and Helsby deserve in their Member of Parliament.

"I look forward to her working hard with ministers if she is elected to deliver the local change that the area and our country deserve."

Other candidates for the Runcorn and Helsby by-election have not yet been announced.