The former Runcorn MP Mike Amesbury has called on Labour backbenchers to oppose winter fuel and welfare cuts, after the byelection in his former seat was lost toReform UK.
Amesbury, who stood down after he was convicted of assaulting a constituent, said he took responsibility for his mistakes but said results up and down the country showed the government was making “some big political mistakes”.
The former Runcorn and Helsby MP said he had “paid a price” for punching the man after late-night drinking and lost his home and income and been hospitalised to deal with his mental health.
Amesbury, a former shadow homelessness minister, said he was not surprisedReform UK won the byelectionlast week. It had been a large Labour majority but Nigel Farage’s party took the seat by just six votes.
“Reform have been the beneficiaries really of some big political mistakes from theLabourgovernment, and I sincerely hope that Keir [Starmer], the Labour prime minister, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, not only listen, but learn,” he said.
“Constituents in Durham or elsewhere up and down the country didn’t vote that way because of my mistake. I live that moment every day of my life … if I could turn back the clock and change things, I’d have done the right thing and walked away.
“I’ve paid a price, and I’ll learn from those mistakes, and politically, I want this government to succeed. But if they carry on making political mistakes, winter fuel’s an obvious one but coming down the line is the personal independence payments.”
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday that more Labour backbenchers should speak out. He said: “You’re not being disloyal, but say, look, come on now, to the leadership. Just think again on this. If we’re serious about having two terms in the Labour government transforming this country for the better we’ve got to listen to the electorate, do the right thing.”
Amesbury said he had been struggling with depression at the time of the incident and that he had been drinking heavily that night. He said being taken to prison was “surreal” and he had previously told his teenage son that he did not believe that would happen.
“I was taken down to the cells below the magistrates court, and I was in a cell just over six hours, and then immediately took my belt off me, all your personal belongings, so I couldn’t phone my wife or close friends,” he said.
“But I was all over the TV, so my wife and friends and family knew that I was going to prison … It felt like a living nightmare, quite surreal. I almost felt like it was in some kind of a out-of-body experience.”
Amesbury was given a 10-week sentence, suspended for two years. He said he was struggling to find work and that politics had been his only passion and ambition.
“The family home is on the market. I can’t afford that, and my income as a member is no longer there. That stops immediately the day you resign. In my circumstances, there’s no severance pay. I don’t know what the future holds. It’s been my life,” he said.
“I recently had a spell in hospital and the psychologist said, what about interests and hobbies? I said politics. That’s what I did. That’s my life. I’m passionate about it.”
Amesbury said he had been hospitalised for a period after the incident. “I needed support to get my health, as in my mental health, in a place where it needs to be, so I can start to rebuild my life,” he said.
“I’ve tried to do everything quickly. Once I got out of prison, I needed some money. So far, quite a number of people said, Mike, you’re too hot to handle at the moment, and I get that.”
The health secretary, Wes Streeting, said on Tuesday the government had listened to voters after Labour’s sweeping losses in the local elections. Speaking to LBC, he said: “We’re under no illusion – and I think the voters have sent us a fundamental message ‘we voted for change with Labour last year – if you don’t deliver change, if we’re not feeling it, we’ll vote for change elsewhere’.
“So we’ve got that message loud and clear. We take the results on the chin. We’re back in parliament today, picking ourselves up, dusting ourselves down, and with things like the GP announcement today showing the country we’ve got the message, when the prime minister said ‘go further and faster’, we’re on the case.”