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Birmingham MP Gisela Stuart has confirmed that she will vote for the UK to leave the European Union - and warned that David Cameron’s new deal with the EU fails to tackle key issues such as the refugee crisis.

Mrs Stuart (Lab Edgbaston) has been a longstanding critic of the European Union but had previously said she would wait for details of the deal agreed between the UK and the rest of the EU before deciding whether she would vote to leave or not.

The MP, a former health minister who was born and bought up in Germany, said supporters of the EU in Britain saw it as an economic organisation which promoted free trade and helped the economy - but it was in fact a political project designed to create a united Europe.

Writing in The Guardian, she said: “There is nothing in the deal that recognises the failure of the Common Security and Defence Policy and puts a stop to the further weakening of our defence capabilities and goes towards strengthening of NATO.

“And even in the face of the refugee crisis, there isn’t even an acknowledgement for the need of a neighbourhood policy which embraces countries in ways other than offering EU membership.

“I am being asked to exercise my once in a generation chance to either endorse a relationship and an institution that shows a deep inability to reform or to say this won’t do – we can do better.

“I will vote Leave.”

Read more: David Cameron gets his EU deal

Mrs Stuart joins Birmingham Labour MPs Khalid Mahmood (Perry Barr) and Roger Godsiff (Hall Green) in backing the "leave" campaign. However, the official position of the Labour Party, and the view of the majority of Labour MPs, is that the UK should stay in.

Read more:

What is the European Union?

What is the EU referendum?

Why should the UK stay in the European Union?

Why should the UK leave the European Union?