Mike Amesbury, the MP who is being investigated by police after a fight in a carpark, has been appointed as a member of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee.

Amesbury will sit on the nine-strong committee as an independent, after the Labour Party withdrew the whip from the member for Runcorn and Helsby following an altercation with another man at the weekend.

The majority of the cross-party committee, including Amesbury, were confirmed in their posts on Monday 21 October. Two remaining members, Lee Dillon and Will Forster, were confirmed at the start of this week.

A key part of the body’s work will be to scrutinise the government’s plans to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years. Over the last five years, the country built around one million homes.

Amesbury, 55, made headlines when CCTV footage emerged of him appearing to punch a man to the floor, before raining down five further blows onto him on the ground.

The incident happened at 2.15am on Saturday in his Cheshire constituency.

He has since been suspended by the party, which led to him being voluntarily interviewed under caution by police, amid calls for the MP to step down or be barred from parliament.

Amesbury has said he was “threatened” before the attack.

The committee, chaired by Labour MP Florence Eshalomi, says: “Details of meetings and the committee’s forward programme will be announced in due course.”

The committee’s members include: