ANTOINETTE Sandbach has lost a vote of confidence from members of the Eddisbury Conservative Association.

Members voted against giving the Eddisbury MP their confidence in the event that she has the whip restored to her by the Conservative Party at a special meeting on Tuesday night.

It means the Eddisbury party membership wants to begin the deselection process to find a new parliamentary candidate to stand at the next General Election.

But Ms Sandbach is currently appealing the party’s decision to remove the whip from her, and the association can only begin the deselection process once an appeal decision has been reached.

Following the vote, Ms Sandbach said: “This is obviously deeply disappointing, but I won’t allow an unrepresentative handful of people decide who gets to be the MP for tens of thousands of Eddisbury voters.

“All my constituents can rest assured that I will continue to represent them in Parliament, standing up for a sensible, pragmatic Brexit deal and confirming that it is what the people want through a final say confirmatory referendum.”

Ms Sandbach was one of 21 Conservative MPs to have the whip removed on September 3 after voting against the Government to give Parliament a chance to rule out a ‘no deal’ Brexit.

Eddisbury Conservative Association decided it had not confidence in Antoinette largely because of her position on Brexit, despite her voting for Theresa May’s deal to leave the European Union three times.

During the meeting, where she spoke for six minutes, Ms Sandbach said: “I have stood up for all of my constituents. 

“If the Conservative Party becomes the Brexit Party we will not win the next election.”

Ms Sandbach has raised concerns about possible entryism in the Eddisbury Conservative Association.

READ > Ms Sandbach speaks out after losing Tory whip

A spokesman for the association said: "At a special general meeting of the Eddisbury Conservative Association on October 18, 2019, the motion 'should the whip be returned this association has confidence in Antoinette Sandbach MP' was lost.

"No further statement or comment will be made by the association."

Cllr Mike Baynham, Conservative member for Winsford Over and Verdin on Cheshire West and Chester Council, believes the association has made the right decision.

He said: “I think it is felt by local Conservatives that Antoinette is at odds with the leadership of the national party, having voted against it quite a few times.

“In my opinion it was the correct decision to make given that I believe Eddisbury is a leave constituency.

“Now is the time to select a candidate that can keep the seat Conservative and lead us through the next period of time with Brexit on its way.”