MP John Hayes on draft Brexit deal: 'I would rather make my case in a determined but civilised way than get into a great circus about who might do the job better'

Following this week's draft Brexit deal agreement, MP for South Holland and the Deepings John Hayes, said today that any transition period 'must be finite.'

"My thoughts are that I had always been prepared to compromise on a series of aspects of this," he told us.

"I have never been one of those people who want to dance on the head of a pin.

"But there are fundamentals. People expect us to 'just get on with it' in other words to leave in March, no 'ifs', 'no buts'.

"There can be no compromise on free movement. We must have control of our borders and drastically cut immigration.

"My third red line is that any transition period must be finite. That means either a date or a process which ends the period of implementation of the deal.

"So whilst I can live with much of this agreement, I have been clear that we must look again at the transition arrangements and how they end.

"We simply cannot allow the European Union to, in effect, dictate when the transition period or the Irish backstop comes to an end.

"I remain hopeful that the Prime Minister will listen to representations from her party and from parliament that the deal that she has proposed needs the changes that I have described in order to be acceptable."

And commenting on news that others have spoken publicly about feelings of 'no confidence' in Prime Minister Theresa May, Mr Hayes said: "I would rather make my case with her in a determined but civilised way than get into a great circus about who might do the job better."