Labour battle bus visits Hartlepool to boost Mike Hill's General Election campaign

Party chairman Ian Lavery was among the speakers to address around 100 supporters when the vehicle stopped in Maritime Avenue, at Hartlepool Marina, as part of a tour of the region.

While Mr Hill is defending a 7,650 majority from the 2017 election, the Brexit Party have made the constituency one of its top targets at next week’s count with chairman Richard Tice among his opponsents.

Mr Lavery urged campaigners to continue in their attempts to persuade people who said they did not know who to vote for to choose Labour.

He added: “I am really concerned about this fellow, the chairman of the Brexit Party, infiltrating this area. That is what he is trying to do. He is making out he is one of yous.

“Let me tell you, you will already know this, he is not a working class individual from this region.”

Mr Lavery, the defending candidate for Wansbeck, in Northumberland, also told them: “You have a great MP in Mike Hill. I have been terribly impressed by him in the Commons. He is always sticking up for this wonderful area.”

Mr Hill said afterwards: “It is a real honour for us to have Ian Lavery come to Hartlepool on the battle bus and to come door knocking.

“It really is a boost for the campaign and the local campaigners that such a high-profile figure has found the time to come here.”

Mr Hill added that he had received “good feedback” while canvassing around Hartlepool’s streets and continued: “Brexit is hardly mentioned on the doorstep.

“What people are really interested in is putting paid to the years of austerity which have decimated Hartlepool and what we are committed to is turning around the town’s fortunes, its NHS and its public services.”

The six candidates fighting for the Hartlepool constituency on Thursday, December 12, are, in alphabetical order, Joe Bousfield (Independent), Kevin Cranney (Socialist Labour Party), Andy Hagon (Liberal Democrats), Mike Hill (Labour), Stefan Richard Houghton (Conservative) and Richard Tice (The Brexit Party).