North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson has confirmed he will not vote for Prime Minister Theresa May's deal to leave the EU ahead of the crucial vote tonight.

Mr Paterson, who has been a long-term campaigner for leaving the European Union, stated in the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon that he felt the deal was a 'betrayal' of the British people after the referendum in 2016, where the Leave vote won by four per cent.

He also believes the deal will be poor for agriculture, with much of his constituency farmers or rural workers, as the Commons gets ready to vote.

"What we face is a constitutional conundrum – we promised a referendum if we won the 2015 election," said Mr Paterson.

"Then we had long processes to decide that and then the people decided overwhelmingly to leave with 17.4 million votes.

"That's the biggest vote in British history. Everyone then asked what does 'Leave' mean?

"The Conservative Party then – very helpfully – interpreted leave to mean leaving the Customs Union and leave the remit of the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

"Sadly, what we have come up with here [the EU Withdrawal Bill] does not deliver that. This is a betrayal of what the people voted for.

"It's ludicrous that laws will be made by 27 nations imposed on us so we cannot query them.

"You take the area of agriculture, which is totally dominated by the EU. It is extraordinary that our agriculture be held back to levels of support for 2019 throughout the whole period of transition.

"Our competitors on the continent will be better funded and will have access to our market on free terms.

"There is no clear exit – the Attorney General (Geoffrey Cox) has made that clear. This is going to cost us £39 million and nothing is on offer.

"There is no incentive for the EU to keep talking – they have us trapped."

Mr Paterson also spoke about the impact of the Withdrawal deal on the Irish border and also admitted that it was sensible to return to EU discussions over free trade while also moving towards trade on World Trade Organisation terms.