Brexit-backing aide warned he could lose his job over People’s Vote rally

Government aide Huw Merriman MP has been told he is likely to be dismissed as a Parliamentary Private Secretary, after appearing on the platform at a People's Vote rally.

Tory MP Huw Merriman is the most high-profile supporter of Brexit to have backed growing calls for a confirmatory public vote on the government's deal, as a way of solving the political crisis and parliamentary deadlock.

The MP for Bexhill and Battle - who backs Theresa May's Brexit deal - said he wanted to use the event to explain why he supported a confirmatory referendum on the agreement in last week's indicative votes in the Commons.

Merriman joined politicians from across the political spectrum as well as people from across the country who voted leave in 2016, for a rally in Westminster.

He received a ovation and told the packed Assembly Hall at Church House that the UK is facing not only a political crisis, but a national emergency, saying: 'I voted for the deal three times. I voted twice to keep no deal on the table. I voted against extending Article 50. I'm a serial loser.

'Parliament has failed. It cannot make up its mind. So, I have reluctantly come to accept that the solution to the deadlock in Parliament is to let the people back into this decision. Now to be told I cannot come here to explain why I voted for a solution to the biggest challenge in our politics is extraordinary.

'My message to Conservative MPs who want to deliver this deal and get it over the line is: you have to look outside parliament. It's time to put it to the people.'