Theresa May is facing fresh unrest from Eurosceptic Tory MPs who are plotting a major campaign to push her into delivering a “hard Brexit”.

A new group, Leave Means Leave, launches today with the aim of getting the UK out of the EU’s single market, ending the influence of Brussels on British laws, and scrapping European “free movement” migration.

The group has won the backing of leading Tories, including Dominic Raab, the former justice minister, Owen Paterson, the former environment secretary, and Sir Gerald Howarth, the former defence minister who chairs the Thatcherite Tory group, Conservative Way Forward.