Remainer group forced to delete Lee Anderson post and issue clarification | Politics | News

A Remainer group has deleted a social media post and issued a clarification over claims made about Lee Anderson.

Best for Britain said on X that the Ashfield MP was suspended when he was a Labour councillor « for getting the equivalent of an ASBO ».

But the pro-EU campaign group has now removed the post and shared a statement after being contacted by Mr Anderson.

It said: « We recently stated in a tweet that Lee Anderson MP was thrown out of the Labour Party for getting the equivalent of an ASBO.

« We deleted that post when Mr Anderson contacted us and Mr Anderson has asked us to clarify some further detail, which we are happy to do.

« Mr Anderson has told us that he was not thrown out of the Labour Party, and that instead he was suspended from the Ashfield District Council group of Labour councillors pending an investigation into the events surrounding him receiving a CPN (Community Protection Notice) for fly-tipping.

« According to Mr Anderson, the CPN was issued by a council officer after he hired a digger and placed concrete blocks to stop travellers camping in a council-owned car park. Mr Anderson has told us that he appealed the CPN and it was withdrawn.

« Mr Anderson has told us that he chose to resign from the Labour Party and join the Conservatives after becoming increasingly disaffected by the party’s policies under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. »

Mr Anderson was suspended from the council’s Labour group in February 2018 after hiring a digger and placing concrete blocks to stop travellers illegally camping in a car park.

The ex-coal miner went on to defect to the Tories a month later and won Ashfield from Labour at the 2019 general election.

Mr Anderson defected to Reform UK earlier this month after losing the Tory whip after refusing to apologise for claiming « Islamists » had « got control » of London Mayor Sadiq Khan.