Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab has called for MPs to vote down Theresa May’s deal when it goes before the Commons on Tuesday.
Mr Raab, who resigned from the Cabinet in November in protest against Mrs May’s deal, said “Britain can do better” than her Withdrawal Agreement, which he said would “keep us locked into EU laws”.
Writing for the Daily Telegraph, Mr Raab said: “It is a bad deal, and Britain can do better. It’s time to stop treating Brexit as a gloomy book-keeping exercise in risk-management.
“MPs should vote against the deal, send a clear message to Brussels that the UK will not be bullied – and deliver the optimistic vision that, in 2016, fired up the biggest democratic mandate for change we’ve ever seen."
Mr Raab added the current deal would "keep us locked into swathes of EU laws without any democratic say".
Mrs May faces the fight of her political life to force her much-criticised deal through Parliament.
And on Friday, Cabinet ministers told the Standard that Brexit looks increasingly likely to be delayed beyond the scheduled leaving date of March 29.
Mr Raab’s comments came as fellow Tory Brexiteer Iain Duncan Smith said leaving the EU without a deal is the only way Britain can fully take back control of its borders.
The former Tory leader described Mrs May's Withdrawal Agreement as "flawed", and instead proffered the benefits of leaving under World Trade Organisation (WTO) terms.
Mr Duncan Smith said: "Only by leaving the EU on WTO terms can the UK fully take back control of its borders and deal with these issues. In taking back control of our migration policy we are also giving notice to industry that we will have to invest and train to a far greater degree than they have for some time.
"The greatest benefit of leaving under no deal is that our country can start to enjoy the benefits of Brexit from March 29, 2019, rather than being left in the BRINO [Brexit In Name Only] purgatory of Mrs May's deal. The British people have already waited for almost three years - they should not have to wait any longer."
Additional reporting by Press Association.
