'I've fulfilled election promise to back Brexit' says Hartlepool MP after Parliament agrees deal

Labour’s Mike Hill said the deal was not perfect and accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of breaking a number of promises, including on fishing.

But he said Parliament was left with no choice other than No Deal.

Mr Hill said: “The deal is not perfect and contains little of what was promised to many of the communities across the UK who placed their faith in the Prime Minister in the 2019 General Election.

“Promises made to the fishing industry have been broken. EU vessels will still be fishing in UK waters despite the Prime Minister’s claims and bluster only a week ago.

"The problems inherent in the Common Fisheries Policy will persist when Brexit was supposed to set that right.”

Under the deal 25% of EU boats' fishing rights in UK waters will be transferred to the UK fishing fleet over a five-and-a-half-year transition period.

Mr Hill also accused the PM of going back on his word where the UK will no longer take part in the ERASMUS student exchange programme saying working class students will now be unable to take up opportunities abroad.

He said: “There is no justification for this and it was never meant to be the case.”

But Mr Hill welcomed promises of continued access to EU research partnerships and partnerships in the zero-carbon energy sector.

“This is vital to areas like ours which are at the cutting edge of zero-carbon technology and this is a welcome surprise that the Prime Minister was able to secure this,” he said.

MPs passed the Brexit trade deal with the EU and became overnight on December 30.

Hartlepool had one of the highest results to leave the EU in 2016’s referendum at 69.57%.

Mr Hill added: “The deal is not perfect. There are elements of it that will require months and years of work to renegotiate what the Prime Minister had promised would be easy things to achieve.

"However, as the only alternative was No Deal, Parliament was left with little choice.

"For me personally, I am confident that this was the right thing to do to fulfil the promise I made in my first election of supporting Brexit with a deal.”

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