SHADOW health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said that Hartlepool residents deserve an MP who will 'fight for them' as he pledged to prioritise health services on a visit to the town today.

Mr Ashworth toured Hartlepool Hospital to support Dr Paul Williams's bid to become the town's Labour MP in the May 6 by-election.

Dr Williams, who works on the NHS frontline, has made improving local health services a key issue in his campaign and Mr Ashworth said a review to ensure the town has 'the best quality health care possible' would be his priority for the area if Labour won the next general election.

He said: "This is a town of about 100,000 people, there are people here sat waiting for hip replacements and knee replacements, there are people - particularly young people - waiting to access mental health care and I think we have got to look at how we both restore services and build the best services for the future."

Mr Ashworth was dismissive of the Conservative's by-election candidate, Hambleton councillor Jill Mortimer, and questioned her commitment to Hartlepool.

He said: "This wannabe MP, who I think is a councillor from North Yorkshire, was asked about potential job losses and the concerns about the future of Liberty Steel and she didn't know what the position of the Conservative party was.

"That is not somebody who is committed to fighting for the future of Hartlepool in the way that Dr Paul Williams is going to fight for the future of Hartlepool."

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health, visited Hartlepool and met with Dr Paul Williams, Labour Candidate Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health, visited Hartlepool and met with Dr Paul Williams, Labour Candidate Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth and Dr Paul Williams

Mr Ashworth also criticised the Conservative government's response to Covid-19 in the area, saying that Hartlepool has an above average rate of infection and is just below the region's average for vaccinations given.

He said: "What are the Tories in this area doing to get the resources into Hartlepool to drive down those infection rates and drive up vaccination rates?

"Because at the moment it doesn't look like they are doing anything at all."

Acknowledging that 69.5 per cent of Hartlepool voters opted to leave the EU in 2016 and Dr Williams was a remainer during the referendum, Mr Ashworth said: "Brexit is done now. We have got to unite now and move on from those divides because Brexit has happened."

He added it was now incumbent on Boris Johnson to honour his promise that savings realised by leaving the EU must now be spent on the NHS.

And Mr Ashworth said that Labour's continual campaigning against cuts to public services, its ongoing fight for jobs and better pay rates in Hartlepool and the party's demand for a pay rise for NHS staff reflected the issues expressed by many people 'on the doorstep' in the region.

He said: "In the end, it will be for the people of Hartlepool to decide, not people on Twitter in London."