I understand that some people feel that because of the majority of constituents of Cheadle voted remain I should be instructed to vote in Parliament to reflect that result, acting as a delegate rather than a representative.

You will be interested to note that 401 out of a total of 650 constituencies voted to leave during the referendum two years ago. If every Member of Parliament were expected to vote in a way that reflects the same result as their own constituency, we would end up in a situation where the House of Commons would, as a consequence, vote overwhelmingly to leave the European Union.

I was elected by my constituents to represent their views and those of the nation. The job of an MP is also to provide leadership, to exercise his or her judgement and consider every issue against the wider context.

In this sense every vote in the House of Commons is a vote of conscience, and I would be acting against my better judgement if I voted against the Withdrawal Agreement and went against the mandate which was handed to the Government 2 years ago.

We witnessed 2 years ago the strength of feeling on both sides of the leave/remain arguments, and in my view a second referendum risks exacerbating the divide across the country, when as a Government we should be striving to bring it back together and reach across the political divide.