British lawmaker Amesbury wins appeal against jail sentence for punching passerby

(Reuters) - A British lawmaker on Thursday won his appeal against a prison sentence for punching one of his constituents, though he still faces the prospect of being ousted from parliament and triggering an electoral test for the governing Labour Party.

Mike Amesbury, the member of parliament for Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England, was suspended from Labour after CCTV footage showed him punching a man in October and repeatedly hitting him after the man was knocked to the ground.

The 55-year-old was sentenced to immediate imprisonment on Monday for a single count of common assault, having pleaded guilty last month.

Amesbury appealed against his sentence at Chester Crown Court, where Judge Steven Everett ruled the 10-week sentence could be suspended, meaning Amesbury will be released.

The conviction, however, means he remains likely to trigger an electoral test for Labour as he can be removed from office if enough constituents support a petition calling for a new election for the parliamentary seat.

Amesbury won the seat comfortably for Labour in its landslide national election win in July. But since then the right-wing Reform UK party, led by Nigel Farage, has overtaken Labour in some national opinion polls.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin in London; editing by William James)