RIBBLE Valley Tory MP Nigel Evans today vowed to vote against Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal when it comes to parliament next month.

This morning he declared that the 585-page plan outlining the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union was not what people voted for in the 2016 referendum on the issue.

Mr Evans spoke out as environment secretary Michael Gove, a fellow leading pro-Brexit campaigner, announced he would not follow former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and ex-Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey in resigning from the Cabinet on the issue.

He said: “What I see in this draft deal is not the Brexit that I voted for, and not the Brexit that the Ribble Valley constituency voted for.

"I cannot support an Irish backstop arrangement that threatens the Union and leaves us indefinitely within a version of the Customs Union and the Single Market.

"The negotiation has conceded far too much ground on all of the key points.

"This deal prevents us from leaving the very institutions that tie us to the EU, and therefore it prevents the UK from benefitting from the main advantages that Brexit could bring.

"Perhaps most importantly, this deal is contrary to the commitments of the manifesto and a betrayal of the 17.4million people who voted to leave the European Union.

"I cannot vote for this deal with a clear conscience, and will not jeopardise the Brexit process by settling for such a flimsy deal.

"This is why I have joined the ‘Stand up for Brexit’ campaign and will vote against the deal when it is brought to the House.”