Previous EU offer is the best option, says Brexiteer MP Owen Paterson

Ahead of the key vote on Theresa May's Brexit Deal next week, Mr Paterson, a Brexiteer, has again said her deal has no chance of getting through parliament.

He believes now is the time to act on an offer made last year by the EU, for a wide ranging free trade agreement.

The MP has insisted that is the best way forward and there is still time to get that over the line before the March 29 cut-off.

He said: "Nothing has changed over Christmas. I have spoken to Conservative MPs and DUPs who are absolutely clear that the current proposal is unacceptable.

"It is best that it is emphatically voted down on Tuesday and that would give the Prime Minister actually a clear mandate to go back to the Europeans and say right, lets go back to your offer made last March for a wide ranging comprehensive free trade agreement with zero tariffs.

"Obviously all of us would agree with that. It would be tight to do, and in parallel you say we will be actively preparing for world trade terms which in my opinion is not alarming like it is being portrayed by some people."

Move

Mr Paterson was part of a delegation that met EU leaders last year, to discuss the issue over the Northern Irish border.

He said that during the discussions it was clear that the previous offer is very much still on the table.

He added: "I went to see a whole load of them to talk about the Northern Irish border and it was clear that the offer is still there.

"I think we should leave this agreement which is not going to get past Conservative MPs, some Labour MPs and no DUP MPs and rapidly move on to the free trade agreement.

"Until we get onto that we are going nowhere."

However, Mr Paterson's fellow Conservative William Hague, who lives near Welshpool, has said there was a "a kind of equilibrium of complacency" between the two rival camps against Mrs May's deal.

Lord Hague added that those suggesting a no-deal Brexit was "not the end of the world" are guilty of "miscalculating the risks and their chances of success".

He wrote: "If we were going to leave with no deal, then the best chance of mitigating the many risks would be to do so with a clear plan of our own, backed by a parliamentary majority ready to take all the necessary measures - which include many new laws that would be urgently required covering customs and immigration checks, suspending many others and spending a lot of money on solving problems where they emerged.

"There clearly is no chance of that with this House of Commons.

"Nor would there be with any new House likely to emerge from a fresh election."