THERESA May will be forced to return to the EU to renegotiate her Brexit deal, predicts Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns.

The Prime Minister is expected to lose a vote in the Commons on the deal next week.

Mr Burns (right), an ally of prominent leaver Boris Johnson, said yesterday's revelation of legal advice the government received on its deal had proved to be "even more damning than many of us had feared".

"It will harden the resolve of many that this is not a good deal for the UK, it has all the disadvantages of being in without the advantages we could get by properly leaving," he said.

Mr Burns said he did not doubt Mrs May's stated intent in pushing the deal, but he thought she had been "incredibly close to the detail" of the negotiations and "never saw any advantages in leaving".

"She came from the point of view that we had to take what the EU would give us."

Also, he said, the Government "didn't prepare for no-deal" giving the EU an advantage in negotiations.

A key sticking point for many Brexit-backing MPs remains the 'backstop', which would leave the UK part of the customs union and subject to EU regulations if no free trade deal is reached.

Mr Burns, who has previously backed a 'Canada++' free trade deal between the UK and EU, said he and other leavers might back the current deal if changed to remove the backstop, or allow for the UK to unilaterally remove it at a later date.

"I think the Prime Minister will go back to Brussels and there will be amendments to the deal," he said.

"I don't think it is in anyone's interest for the UK to leave without some form of arrangement in place.

"These arrangements primarily concern goods and services. We have a deficit of £90 billion in traded goods with the EU, leaving without a deal is as little in their interest as it is in ours. If she says to them 'I simply cannot get this through my parliament', then they will have to listen."