Sir Keir Starmer has referred to as footage of a Labour MP punching somebody “shocking” – however declined to say if he ought to resign.
In a video from the weekend Mike Amesbury, the MP for Runcorn and Helsby, was seen punching a person, who fell to the ground, earlier than then hitting him repeatedly.
After the footage got here to gentle, the Labour Celebration mentioned it had administratively suspended his membership “pending an investigation”.
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Footage of Mike Amesbury incident in Frodsham
Throughout a Q&A after a pre-budget speech this morning, Sir Keir sidestepped a query about whether or not Mr Amesbury ought to resign as an MP.
“I have seen the video footage, it’s shocking,” he mentioned.
“We moved very swiftly to suspend him as a member.
“There’s now a police investigation and within the circumstances you’ll respect there’s not way more I can say about that.”
Earlier footage had shown Mr Amesbury shouting at a man while he was lying on the floor, saying: “you will not ever threaten me once more”.
In a press release the MP mentioned he felt “threatened on the street following an evening out with friends” – and that he “contacted Cheshire Police myself to report what happened during this incident”.
“I will not be making further public comment but will, of course, cooperate with any inquiries if required by Cheshire Police,” he added.
The newest video confirmed two males standing dealing with one another earlier than Mr Amesbury punched the opposite and continued hitting him on the bottom.
It isn’t clear from the video what occurred within the moments beforehand.
Three members of the general public might then be seen strolling over in the direction of the 2 males and intervening.
A spokesperson for Cheshire Police mentioned: “A 55-year-old man has been voluntarily interviewed under caution by police in relation to this incident. He has since been released pending further enquiries.”
