Owen Paterson stands firm against PM's Brexit deal
North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson has pledged to continue to oppose the Prime Minister's Brexit deal – as another prominent Shropshire eurosceptic says he will now back it.
Theresa May's withdrawal agreement is expected to go before the House of Commons for a third time this week, with a vote possible as early as today.
The deal was rejected by MPs for a second time last week, by a majority of 149, but there are signs this week that many MPs are changing their position and are now prepared to support it.
Among them are Shrewsbury and Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski, who voted against the deal last week, but said he would now support it. Mr Kawczynski said Parliament's decision to rule out a 'no-deal' Brexit meant that Mrs May's deal was now the only way to be certain of leaving the EU.
But Mr Paterson said he met with his constituency party over the weekend, which voted unanimously to back his stance.
He is one of 23 MPs, also including Telford's Lucy Allan, who signed a letter saying that a 'no-deal' Brexit still represented a better opportunity for the UK.
He said: "No deal will prove to be the pre-cursor to a very good deal indeed.
"At the time of the 2016 refer the choice was between leaving the EU and remaining in it."
He said that having lost the referendum, remainers then redefined the choice as between 'hard' or 'soft' Brexit – in reality between real departure and leaving in name only.
"Now hard or real Brexit has been redefined as a 'catastrophic no-deal Brexit', and purportedly removed from the table by a parliament of remainers," said Mr Paterson.
"We are confronted with two unacceptable choices but it will be our fault if we cast a positive vote in favour of either for fear of the other."
Ms Allan said she would want to study the terms of any fresh proposals to get the agreement through parliament before deciding how to vote.
But she said she would not be swayed by threats of what could happen to Brexit if the deal was not passed.
Mark Pritchard, MP for The Wrekin, voted for the deal last week having previously opposed it, while Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davis and Ludlow MP Philip Dunne have consistently supported it.
