A colleague of a Labour MP has told a court it was "outrageous" she was arrested and accused of kicking a Scottish independence campaigner outside a polling station.

John Fulham, 34, travelled to Glasgow with fellow St Helens councillor Marie Rimmer and two others to help out in the final stages of the 2014 referendum campaign.

He was stationed outside Shettleston Community Centre in Glasgow with Rimmer, 69, where she is accused of kicking Patricia McLeish - referred to in court as Trish.

Mr Fulham, who is now a parliamentary assistant to Angela Eagle, said there were only four people present outside the polling station - himself and Rimmer campaigning for Better Together and Ms McLeish and Stuart Coleman handing out leaflets for the Yes side.

He said they were there to speak to voters but he thought Ms McLeish was "more interested in talking to us".

Mr Fulham told a trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court: "She kept shouting to vote Yes and get rid of the 'red Labour Tories' and I found that quite offensive."

He said he was "quite impressed" with how Rimmer tried to "disarm" Ms McLeish in conversation, while he had given up.

Mr Fulham said he was standing beside Mr Coleman and both men were looking at their phones when Ms McLeish accused Rimmer of kicking her and asked them if they had seen it.

He said: "He (Mr Coleman) said 'no I didn't' and then walked towards Trish.

"She gestured to him somehow and then Mr Coleman said to me, 'did you see that?'

"I replied 'no I didn't, and you just said you didn't either'."

Giving evidence in July, Mr Coleman said Rimmer had "lost her temper and kicked out".

When questioned by fiscal depute Adele MacDonald, it was put to Mr Fulham that there may have been a kick that he did not see.

He said: "Absolutely, yeah. I can only say what I saw."

Mr Fulham said he and Rimmer left the polling station with colleagues for a break and the 69-year-old was arrested when they returned.

He told the court: "I said it was outrageous that she could be arrested."

Rimmer, who was elected as MP for St Helens South and Whiston in 2015, denies assaulting Ms McLeish on September 18 2014.

She has already been found not guilty of a second charge of acting in a threatening and abusive manner.