CHRIS Green is among more than 60 Brexiteer Tory MPs who have sent a list of demands to the Prime Minister.

Opponents have called the letter a ‘shameless coup’ by the European Research Group (ERG), made up of Tory Eurosceptics including the Bolton West MP, ahead of the next stage of exit negotiations with the European Union.

In the letter, the MPs warned the UK must have full control over laws after Brexit and must not become a ‘rule taker’.

Britain must not be stopped from negotiating and signing trade deals during any transition period, they said.

“The UK must be free to start its own trade negotiations immediately,” the letter adds.

“The UK should negotiate as an equal partner. Ministers may not want or be able to accept the EU’s timing and mandates as fixed, and should be able to set out alternative terms including, for example, building an agreement based on our World Trade Organisation membership instead.

“Any ‘implementation period’ should be based on WTO principles. Any implementation period must not restrain the UK from negotiating or signing other trade agreements.”

Labour said the letter exposed the “deep divisions” in the Conservative Party.

However, Mr Green said he was ‘100 per cent’ behind Theresa May.

He said: “The ongoing national debate on Brexit and what it means for the country is raging in Westminster as it is everywhere else. It is important that those people who want to deliver Brexit have a voice.

“We are 100 per cent supportive of the Prime Minister and what she outlined in her Lancaster House speech in delivering an honest Brexit that ensure we leave the EU but still have a positive relationship with our European neighbours.

“Some of the people who are criticising this letter are the most Europhile people who never wanted us to leave the EU and didn’t want a referendum at all. Their comments have to be viewed in that context.”

Former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, a supporter of the Best For Britain against Brexit, said:”The PM must listen to the people, not to the far-right faction who are launching this shameless coup.”