Nicky Morgan, an advocate for a soft Brexit who chairs the Treasury select committee, said: “This isn’t a letter, it is a ransom note. The ERG clearly think they have the prime minister as their hostage.” Tory MP Anna Soubry, another vocal Tory opponent of hard Brexit, said the letter was “very disappointing”. Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain he said it only underlined the prime minister red lines set out in her Lancaster House and Florence speeches. If we are just going to merely be a vassal state of the European Union, we are not really leaving the European Union, that will reflect very badly on the government. Paul Blomfield, a shadow Brexit minister said: “This letter exposes the deep divisions that run through the heart of this Tory government.

Source: The Guardian February 20, 2018 22:08 UTC