Labour MP faces trial over alleged ‘referendum assault’

LABOUR MP Marie Rimmer is to stand trial next year accused of assaulting a pro-independence supporter outside a Glasgow polling station on the day of the referendum.

Glasgow Sheriff Court. Picture: John Devlin

The St Helens South and Whiston MP denies assaulting Yes voter Patricia McLeish outside the Shettleston Community Centre on September 18 last year.

A previous trial against Ms Rimmer, 68, collapsed because the word Glasgow was not included in the charge.

The case was re-raised by the Crown Office and is due to be heard in April 2016.

St Helens South MP Marie Rimmer pictured in the House of Commons. Picture: Contributed

Ms Rimmer also faces a second charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by ‘repeatedly approaching volunteers’ as well as pointing in the face of Dennis Ashcroft, according to the BBC.

The MP is also alleged to have repeatedly approached Ms McLeish is a threatening manner.

The case against Ms Rimmer, a former leader of St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council, was called at Glasgow Sheriff Court where the MP was not present.

A not guilty plea to the charges was entered on her behalf, with a trial set for April next year.