THE European Research Group, the influential Eurosceptic caucus of Tory MPs, has handed Boris Johnson a massive boost by vowing to back his motion today. The group, chaired by Wycombe MP Steve Baker, met at Parliament this morning. Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC’s political editor, tweeted that Mr Baker had said the advice to all of them was to vote for the deal.

Mr Baker subsequently tweeted: “ERG advice to MPs: 1. vote for Boris’s deal in the national interest 2. support the legislation to completion in good faith, provided it is not spoiled by opponents of Brexit 3. vote with Boris throughout to give him maximum opportunity to deliver for our country.”

ERG member Bernard Jenkin suggested he would get behind it – while voicing his reservations.

He said: “This deal is hundreds of miles from perfect. It has terrible elements, but we are where we are.

“At least @BackBoris has substantially improved it and it now points in a far more positive direction for our country.”

Mr Johnson will be buoyed by the news, given ERG support was far from guaranteed.

Questioned after a meeting at Number 10 earlier this week, Mr Baker warned the group’s MPs could still vote against the Prime Minister’s deal.

He said: “At the moment we are in a position where the Prime Minister needs to finish negotiating for the country, come back with a deal, and when we can see a deal, we can say what we are doing.

“I know everybody is desperate for us to say whatever we can vote for it.

“Until we can see it, we can’t say.”

He added: “All of us now are in the territory that we have explained all of our concerns.

“We have been through them in detail and are all very much hoping that come the vote we will be with the Prime Minister.

“There are thousands of people out there counting on us not to let them down, and we are not going to.”

He continued: “So, we are just really wishing the Prime Minister well, and we are hoping he has total success.

“We know there will be compromises, but we will be looking at this deal in detail, with a view to support it, but until we get that text, we can’t say.”

Other ERG members have voiced concerns about the plan.

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said there were “issues”, particularly with Northern Ireland, while Owen Paterson said: “We await the full details of the new deal to see exactly how they address the objections to the dead Theresa May ‘deal’ but dual-tariff systems like this would be, as Priti Patel has said, ‘unacceptable’.”

He added: “It would be particularly absurd for Northern Ireland. 85 per cent of sales by Northern Irish companies are in the UK.

“Just five per cent are with the Republic and around three per cent with the rest of the EU.

“How could we saddle Northern Ireland with EU costs and regulations, and shut it out from trade deals which the rest of the UK would strike?

“It would shatter the Belfast Agreement’s principle of consent and completely undermine Northern Ireland’s status as an integral part of the UK. We must not go down this route.”

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