Mark Francois says ERG will vote down Withdrawal Agreement even if Boris Johnson gets rid of the backstop ‘He said many times during the campaign that the Withdrawal Agreement is dead. I believe him’

Brexiter group the European Research Group (ERG) will vote against any form of the Withdrawal Agreement, even if Boris Johnson succeeds in persuading the EU to remove the Irish backstop, Tory MP Mark Francois claimed.

The ERG have set out tough red lines just days into the new Prime Minister’s time in office.

Mr Johnson set out his own position in the Commons on Thursday, arguing that a deal is only possible through the “abolition of the backstop,” which is a measure to keep the Northern Irish border free of customs checks, and is a key part of the existing Withdrawal Agreement.

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‘Even without the backstop’

But Mr Francois told BBC’s Newsnight: “If there were any attempt to revive the Withdrawal Agreement, even without the backstop, the ERG would vote against it.”

“He said many times during the campaign that the Withdrawal Agreement is dead. I believe him,” Mr Francois said, adding that he believed Brussels would “blink” and agree to talks on a free trade deal instead.

The ERG, which has a membership of around 80 MPs, many of whom worked on the official Vote Leave campaign in the run-up to the 2016 referendum. It was founded in 1993 by Micheal Spicer and plays a powerful role in the current Parliament, where Mr Johnson rules by only a handful of votes.

Backstop

The backstop proposals aim to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic by matching UK rules to those of the customs union, if no trade deal is agreed that can deliver the same objective by the end of the transition period.

Speaking in the Commons on Thursday, Mr Johnson said: “No country that values its independence, and, indeed, its self-respect, could agree to a treaty which signed away our economic independence and self-government as this backstop does.

“A time limit is not enough if an agreement is to be reached it must be clearly understood that the way to the deal goes by way of the abolition of the backstop.”

This claim was branded “unacceptable” by EU negotiator Michel Barnier in a strongly worded letter to officials from the EU 27 on Thursday.

‘Do or die’

Mr Johnson also assured MPs that he plans to leave the EU on the 31 October having said the pledge was “do or die” on the campaign trail.

Tory MP Steve Baker, the deputy chair of the ERG, rejected a ministerial job saying he did not want a repeat of the “powerlessness” he felt as a junior Brexit minister under Theresa May, with the work all being done by the Cabinet Office.

He insisted he had “total confidence” in the Prime Minister to deliver on his commitment to meet the October 31 Brexit deadline, but added ominously that: “Disaster awaits otherwise.”