Labour's Parliamentary candidate in North West Leicestershire, Cllr Amanda Hack, has repeated her call for Andrew Bridgen to resign as an MP and force a by-election.

Cllr Hack was responding to Mr Bridgen's decision to join the Reclaim Party - and become the Laurence Fox-led party's first sitting MP.

Mr Bridgen confirmed his move this morning (Wednesday) after being expelled from the Conservative Party over tweets questioning the Covid vaccine roll-out.

He also said he would be standing at the next General Election in North West Leicestershire - and also predicted that could happen later this year, rather than next.

But, speaking to Labour Party members in Ibstock on Tuesday night, Cllr Hack said: "Mr Bridgen's defection to a party on the fringes of British politics is no surprise.

"He positioned himself as a champion of right-wing causes when he arrived. He's lurched progressively further to the right until even the Conservatives could tolerate him no longer.

"Most of us could see this coming years ago.

"The people of North West Leicestershire need an MP with their interests at heart.

"But rather than focus on spiralling mortgages, food prices, crippling business costs or the dumping of raw sewage in our rivers, he prefers to chase media attention for his increasingly wild conspiracy theories.

"If he wants to try his luck as Britain's first-ever Reclaim MP, that's fine; but the choice should not be down to him.

"That choice should lie with the voters of North West Leicestershire. He should resign immediately and put his extreme views to the test, at a by-election."

But, speaking at a Reclaim Party press conference, Mr Bridgen said: "We have to have an election within the next 12 months but I think it will be sooner than that.

"This government can't hold on much longer, I think they'll want to get the boundary changes through and then we'll be having an election this Autumn.

"I wouldn't want to put my constituents through having two General Elections in less than 12 months, they don't tend to like that.

"I would also like to point out at the last election I got 63 per cent of the votes. It's not a marginal seat."

Reclaim Party founder Laurence Fox also weighed in on the issue.

He claimed the Conservative Party is "depriving" the constituents of North West Leicestershire of their MP, and added that his party is trying to "reclaim him for them."

This sentiment has been shared online by some constituents. Speaking on Twitter, Lisa Collins said to the North West Leicestershire Tory group: "According to your ex MP, it is your fault that we have an MP that belongs to the Reclaim Party. You have denied us having an Conservative MP."

But the local Conservatives responded and said: "Mr Bridgen was suspended from the Conservative Party for his social media comments, however his subsequent behaviour, including interviews with extremists, more than warrant his permanent expulsion."