A FORMER Clacton MP and one of the country’s leading Brexiteers has been left overjoyed after the UK struck a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU ...and claimed the “revolution started in Clacton”.

Douglas Carswell defected from the Tories to the UK Independence Party before calling a by-election in 2014.

His re-election gave a major boost to UKIP, putting pressure on former Prime Minister David Cameron to hold the referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU in 2016.

The UK has now made an agreement on trade and other issues with the EU, just one week before the transition period comes to an end.

The deal means there will be no extra charges on goods, but UK nationals will need a visa for stays of longer than 90 days in the EU in a 180-day period.

The UK can decide on access to its fishing grounds, but EU boats will be able to fish in UK waters for some years to come.

Mr Carswell, who was one of the founders and a director of the Vote Leave campaign, said: “Clacton changed the course of our country’s history.

“There will be a lot of individuals and politicians wanting to be seen as the deliverers of Brexit, but it was Clacton that made this happen.

“The Gazette ran a front page on the morning of the by-election in 2014 highlighting the historic significance of the election - and its analysis was right

“For almost 50 years the political establishment of this country determined we should belong to this European secret state.

“But at that by-election, Clacton folk forced politicians to realise that if they wanted to remain in office they would have to give us the referendum.”

He said the elite “sneered at fuddy-duddies” in Clacton as being out of touch and incorrectly assumed they would win the referendum.

Mr Carswell said the announcement of the deal was “quite an emotional moment” for him.

He said the “revolution that started in Clacton” had led to a deal that is 99 per cent perfect and has “put the people back in control”.

He claims future generations will be “significantly better off” and we will be “significantly more content as a country” by the restoration of democracy and English ideals, with the powerful answering to the people.

Earlier this month, Mr Carswell was appointed by the Government as a non-executive director to the Department for International Trade (DIT) to support its “ambitious” trade policy agenda.

Euro sceptic Maldon MP John Whittingdale said the deal on the future relationship with the bloc is ‘the Christmas present we had been hoping for’.

He said: “As of January 1, Britain will be a sovereign nation once again with control over our own laws, borders, money and waters.”

“However, we can also continue trading with other European member states without quotas or tariffs as a result of the biggest and fastest trade deal ever agreed by the EU.”

But former Euro MP Alex Mayer said: “It is better than the alternative of no deal at all – but securing the lesser of two evils is no cause for hope.”

“This is the first trade deal in history with the express plan of making it harder to trade.”