By Martin Vickers Mp For The Mail On Sunday
Published: 00:52 GMT, 3 March 2019 | Updated: 00:53 GMT, 3 March 2019
View
comments
Martin Vickers MP, pictured, has called on his fellow Tory MPs to support Theresa May's revised deal or risk losing out on Brexit
I have always supported leaving the European Union and campaigned for this in both 2016 and 1975. I was confident that my Cleethorpes constituency would vote to leave and they duly delivered by 70 per cent to 30.
When I arrived in Westminster nine years ago I joined the European Research Group (ERG) and have consistently voted first to achieve a referendum and subsequently to deliver the most robust version of Brexit possible.
My vision for Brexit was spelled out almost exactly by the Prime Minister in her Lancaster House speech where she outlined the following objectives: taking back control of our own laws, control of our borders, and the ability to sign new trade deals around the world.
Unfortunately we are now a long way from that vision. The Withdrawal Agreement put to Parliament on 15th January was, as we know, not just defeated but slaughtered by a majority of 230, and yet, bizarre though it may seem, it remains the only deal on the table.
The main concern for most MPs centres round the Irish backstop which could lead to Northern Ireland staying in the EU Customs Union, large parts of the single market and governed by