MID Worcestershire MP Nigel Huddleston has been accused of ducking scrutiny by the rival candidate he has blocked on social media.

Labour's Helen Russell, who stood against Mr Huddleston at the last general election, said she had been "disappointed" by a move she described as "unnecessary" but Mr Huddleston defended himself and countered by accusing Labour "activists" of "deliberately misrepresenting posts in parliament".

Ms Russell recently criticised Mr Huddleston's abstention on a non-binding motion – often used to express approval or disapproval of something which cannot otherwise be voted on – over the £20 Universal Credit uplift which is due to end on March 31 and acknowledges she has called out his voting record on key issues.

"I am a bit disappointed that he feels the need, with a 28,000 majority, to block the opposition candidate," she said.

"I think it is important that all constituents, not just myself, are able to ask questions about what he is doing on our behalf.

"It is unnecessary and I am surprised it has happened now. Maybe I would have understood if it had been during the general election but I rarely tag him in, I only do that when asking for support on issues like online petitions.

"If you hold public office you are open to scrutiny and held to account for how you vote on behalf of your constituents. That's a basic part of being an MP.

"We have been highlighting the way he has been voting a bit more since the general election.

"In the past he has been hiding his voting record to a certain extent because it is not easy to navigate the parliament website to find the voting records and understand what the amendments mean.

"It is very easy to hide the way you are voting but we are publishing his voting record on social media. Maybe he does not like the scrutiny, that's the only thing I think it could be and that is rather disappointing.

"He can choose who he blocks but I won't be blocking him. I am happy for him to see what I say and for other people to ask me questions on social media."

In response, Mr Huddleston said: "I have a long-standing policy of blocking people from my social media accounts who swear, are rude or abusive, who spread hatred, intolerance, or misleading information or who spam my posts with unrelated content. Anyone blocked will have done one or more of these.

"Some local Labour activists have been busy recently deliberately misrepresenting votes in parliament on non-binding opposition day discussion debates as if they are binding votes on government policy – when they know full well they are not – thereby spreading not only misinformation but stoking online hatred and abuse. That was probably it.

"They’ve been particularly misleading as the only opposition to many of these votes has come from Labour's own MPs but they like to stay quiet about that."

Ms Russell was quick to distance herself from any suggestion of trolling.

"I do regularly highlight his voting record but I don't tag in his Twitter handle, I just put his name and I do that to hold him to account," she added.

"I don't troll or harass people on Twitter, that's not what I am about. As a female candidate in the last general election, I know the kind of abuse and harassment that people standing for public office face so I would never participate in that."