Field warns of far-Left bid to unseat him

FRANK FIELD has accused members of his local Labour Party of using his votes supporting the Government’s approach to Brexit as an excuse to replace him with a far-Left candidate.

The veteran Eurosceptic, who has represented Birkenhead on Merseyside since 1979, said some in his constituency Labour Party (CLP) were seeking to “misrepresent” his votes in the Commons as support for the Tories so they could get rid of him.

Mr Field said his votes a fortnight ago had instead been on behalf of “mil- lions of Labour voters – mainly in parts of the country that have long been neglected by the elites – who gave politicians a clear instruction to take the country out of the EU”.

The CLP on Friday passed a noconfidence vote in Mr Field, which followed a similar motion against his fellow “Labour leaver” Kate Hoey in her Vauxhall seat in London.

Mr Field, Ms Hoey and two other Labour Brexiteers, John Mann and Graham Stringer, rebelled to back the Government over the Trade Bill, with their votes crucial in passing the legislation by the narrowest of margins.

Their critics argue that had the Con- servatives lost the vote, it could have forced Theresa May to call a general election.

Like Ms Hoey, Mr Field faces the risk of being deselected after losing the confidence of local members. Mr Field’s constituency voted in favour of Leave at the 2016 referendum.

Speaking yesterday, he said that during his 39 years as an MP, he had “always voted to free our country from the tightening stranglehold of the EU”.

Mr Field dismissed the idea he was backing the Tories or “getting in the way of an early general election”.

He said: “This is an absurd suggestion that is being used as an excuse.”