Nigel Farage Urges Eurosceptics To Not Back Theresa May's Brexit Deal

3 March 2019, 13:29 | Updated: 3 March 2019, 18:43

Leading Brexiteer Nigel Farage has urged fellow eurosceptics to not begin to back the Prime Minister's withdrawal agreement because it "reads more like a surrender document".

The chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers has said he is ready to stop opposing Theresa May's controversial Brexit deal, saying that the country is 'tired of delay'.

Sir Graham Brady, who opposed the Prime Minister's withdrawal agreement, indicated that a breakthrough in negotiations between the UK and EU was close and said that "when the right compromise is offered, we should pull together behind the Prime Minister".

But Nigel Farage called his position a "significant shift" and that it was "nonsense" to think that the deal would be acceptable only if the controversial backstop was removed.

Speaking on his LBC show, the Leave campaigner said: "What are we paying £39bn for?

"What are we doing to take back our fishing waters?

"At what point will we get back control of our borders?

"It seems to me that we are leaving ourselves completely at the mercy of the European Union for however long this transition period lasts."

"Even if there was a legal change to the backstop, this withdrawal agreement actually reads more like a surrender document signed by a leader whose nation has just been defeated at war and they've got a gun to their head.

"I do not think that eurosceptics should get behind this deal, I much prefer the idea that we leave on just WTO terms and even if there are a few bumps in the road short-term we are out and probably then in a much better position to negotiate a free trade agreement."