Conservative MPs have been urged to back Rishi Sunak on Brexit as his Northern Ireland protocol deal will not “sell anyone out”, a government minister has said. The minister for veterans’ affairs, Johnny Mercer, said people must “operate in the real world” on Brexit and give the prime minister a chance to come up with a solution to this issue so he could focus on “all the other challenges that we are facing”. Sunak faces a growing backlash over his Brexit deal, in what hardline Eurosceptic MPs fear will amount to little more than a “glossary” on “how to implement” the existing protocol. Members of the European Research Group, a caucus of Eurosceptic conservative MPs, on Tuesday night had a meeting with the Democratic Unionist party leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, and demanded to see the full text of any deal on the Northern Ireland protocol, piling pressure on Sunak to meet their demand for radical changes to the Brexit trading arrangements, including eliminating EU law in Northern Ireland. Mark Francois, a leading member of the ERG, said on Tuesday night: “We would all like to solve this once and for all. But any MP worth their salt, if they are asked to vote on a deal, wants to see it first. That is not unreasonable. So that will mean … a legal text. So we, too, would be keen to read the legal text.” But on Wednesday, Mercer said he would be “happy” with whatever deal the prime minister comes back with. He told Sky News: “We’ve got to operate in the real world, right? I think that’s the problem with this debate over many years. “Rishi Sunak campaigned, voted for and is very committed to Brexit, as you’ve seen a number of times, and I think whatever he comes back with, we need to resolve this issue and we need to get on and seize the opportunities of Brexit that have been talked about for so long.
“So I hope colleagues recognise the work he is putting into it. I think he is taking the right approach, and I think what he comes back with, if he is happy, then I’m happy, and we can get on with it and tackle all the other challenges we are facing today.” Asked whether there could be a deal this week, Mercer said: “I don’t know, I hope so.” But the Tory MP and Eurosceptic Bernard Jenkin told Sky News: “I fear we’re not very close … it doesn’t look as if the government can resolve the power-sharing crisis with any deal that will emerge from these negotiations.” Donaldson has urged Sunak to take all the time he needs to solve issues with the timetable instead of working to a tight deadline, amid concern that the longer the two sides leave it to strike a deal, the greater the risk of it unravelling. After meeting the ERG on Tuesday, Donaldson told reporters: “We recognise that progress has been made. There is still some way to go. There are still some very key issues that need to be resolved. “We will work with the government to make sure that we get the right outcome – an outcome that respects Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom and its internal market.”