Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman has said he will serve at least another five years if re-elected on June 8.

The Prime Minister got her wish after MPs backed her motion to call a General Election three years early.

Mr Sheerman, 76, was one of a handful of Labour MPs to not back the vote.

He confirmed he had abstained in the Commons vote on Wednesday after strongly criticising Theresa May for compromising Brexit in favour of political advantage.

Following the news that he would have to fight another General Election, his tenth campaign, he confirmed he had no plans to retire and hoped to go on into his 80s.

“I’m looking forward to it with vim and vigour,” he said.

“I enjoy election campaigning, it’s fun. You stand on your record, your ideas and your values.

“I love it, it’s the essence of democracy.

“You say here’s what I did in Westminster on your behalf, what do you think? We are going to hold Huddersfield.”

Mr Sheerman, who has held the Huddersfield seat since 1979, said he had no intention of standing down part way through the term.

Huddersfield Labour candidate Barry Sheerman meets students from the town's Polytechnic and Technical College to urge them to vote in the General Election in 1987

“Of course I will serve the full term,” he told the Examiner. “I’m still probably the most active MP on the Labour side.

“I’m still motoring about so I don’t see why I shouldn’t go on.

“I’m fit and well and I’ve showed a lot of people in the House of Commons how to be an effective MP.

“I enjoy acting as a mentor and advisor, it’s part of the joy of being in the job.”

Mr Sheerman said he was still going strong and was hoping to help his more youthful colleagues in neighbouring constituencies to also hold their seats.

And he said it was no secret in Westminster that he was aiming to be the ‘Father of the House’ of Commons – the longest serving MP.

The current Father of the House is prominent Tory Ken Clarke who has been an MP since 1970.

The former Chancellor, 76, became an MP aged just 30.

Outspoken Labour member for Bolsover, Dennis Skinner, 85, is next in line but he has said he would refuse the title.

A further five MPs are ahead of Mr Sheerman in terms of length of service; Worthing West Tory Sir Peter Bottomley; Labour member for Coventry North West, Geoffrey Robinson; Saffron Walden Tory, Sir Alun Haselhurst, and Labour’s Walsall North member, David Winnick, who is still a serving MP at 83-years-old.