General Election 2019: Robert Goodwill and Labour's Hugo Fearnley to go head-to-head for Scarborough and Whitby seat

Mr Goodwill, who's been a Conservative MP for Scarborough and Whitby since 2005, voted in favour of holding an election on December 12 earlier this week.

He said: “[An election] is the only way that we can get Brexit done. We can’t focus on all the other priorities until Brexit is delivered and this Prime Minister has clearly demonstrated that he’s able to deliver Brexit.

“Nearly 62% in Scarborough and Whitby voted to leave and I share their frustration that over three years later we haven’t delivered on that mandate.

“I confidently expect that people will understand that the only way to leave the EU with a deal at the end of January is by voting Conservative.”

Mr Goodwill said he is “doubtful” Labour will get a better deal than Boris Johnson’s and called the Opposition party’s plan to have a confirmatory referendum after negotiating their own deal with the EU “bizarre”.

Defending his party's policy, Scarborough and Whitby Labour Parliamentary candidate Hugo Fearnley said: "We're going to negotiate our own deal with the EU, a deal that protects jobs and livelihoods and then put it back to the people in a confirmatory vote. It's very straightforward."

According to Mr Fearnley, assuming that Labour will campaign against its own deal is wrong because "we haven't decided what our position would be".

While the December election has been primarily called to break the impasse over Brexit, now delayed until the end of January, Mr Fearnley says there are other issues that need to be addressed.

"I spent the last year and a half speaking to people and while Brexit is important it is not the only issue in people's minds. When you ask people on their doorstep what they would like to change often it's issues much closer to home... low paid jobs, affordable housing, access to health care. These are the things people are concerned about on a day to day basis and these are the issues that we're going to concentrate on."

This year's General Election Bill was backed by a majority of 418 MPs on Tuesday night. It's the first December election since 1923.