Senior Labour MP Iain Wright has announced he is standing down.
The former minister, who chairs the Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, said he would “like to do other things” with his life.
The Hartlepool MP was elected in 2004 and held the seat with a majority of 3,024 at the 2015 general election.
He said: “It has been an enormous privilege to serve my home town in Parliament. I have now been an MP for nearly a third of my life. I would like to do other things and now is a good opportunity to do so.
“I would like to thank my constituents for giving me the honour of allowing me to be their Member of Parliament since 2004.”
Business Secretary Greg Clark praised Mr Wright for his work as committee chairman at the start of a hearing on the impact of Brexit on energy.
“You will be very greatly missed,” he told the Labour MP, who replied: “I feel as though I am at my own funeral.”
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