Nigerian-born MP Fiona Onasanya causes controversy as she helps secure Brexit extension with Remainers winning by one vote

DISGRACED Nigerian-born member of the UK Parliament Fiona Onasanya has caused further controversy after revealing that she voted in favour of the motion to allow for an extension to Brexit negotiations which passed by one vote in the House of Commons.

Ms Onasanya, 35, the member of Parliament for Peterborough, has been expelled from the Labour Party and is facing de-selection after being found guilty lying about a speeding ticket. She was jailed for three months in January but released after serving just 28 days of her sentence and now faces the prospect of a by-election if at least 10% of her constituents sign a recall petition on her seat by May 1.

A subject of intense debate about whether those convicted of criminal offences should be allowed to sit in Parliament, Ms Onasanya has created further controversy with a tweet that has rubbed Brexiteers up the wrong way. On her twitter page, she revealed that yesterday, she cast her vote in favour of a bill seeking to delay Brexit, which ended up passing by a majority of just one.

Leave supporters have slammed her for being able to vote on the crucial Brexit legislation despite her criminal record. Ms Onasanya confirmed in a tweet she had voted to extend Article 50 as she could not support crashing out to the chagrin of hardline Tory Brexiteers who want the UK to leave the European Union whatever the consequences of a No Deal arrangement.

Ms Onasanya tweeted: "Tonight I voted to extend Article 50. I previously voted for CM2.0, along with other options in the hope that a compromise deal could be struck. We have to strive to find a way forward, I could not support crashing out as how we leave is important, so compromise is the key."

Yesterday's cross-party Cooper-Boles Bill, which has been fast-tracked through Parliament, requires Theresa May to seek a delay to Brexit rather than risk the UK crashing out on April 12. It passed in the House of Commons by just one vote, with 313 votes for and 312 votes against and will now undergo further scrutiny in the House of Lords.

One passed, the proposal would legally bind Mrs May into seeking a Brexit extension beyond April 12 in the absence of a deal that has been approved by Parliament. Tory MP Michael Fabricant, has singled out Ms Onasanya for criticism, blaming her what was a bitter defeat for the Leave campaign to swallow.

He tweeted: "Last night Remainers won by one vote with the help of Labour whips who brought in Peterborough’s independent MP convicted criminal Fiona Onasanya complete with ankle tag."

A spokesman for the campaign group Leave EU added: "Tonight, tag-wearing convicted criminal Fiona Onasanya helped a bill designed to frustrate the will of 17.4m people pass through the Commons by just a single vote. British politics truly is a complete and utter cesspit."

Ms Onasanya was elected for Labour in the Cambridgeshire city in 2017 by just 607 votes but following her conviction, was not subject to automatic removal as an MP as her sentence was less than 12 months. She resisted calls to stand down from Parliament, sitting as an independent as she spent one month of a three-month sentence behind bars at Bronzefield prison near Ashford, Surrey.