Keir Starmer will ‘order Labour MPs to back Brexit deal to win back North’

SIR Keir Starmer will order Labour MPs to back a Brexit deal to try to win back the North, his allies claim.

Shadow Cabinet sources say the party will support “almost any trade deal” that PM Boris Johnson forges with Brussels.

They hope that doing so will “put the issue to bed for good” and win back the trust of “Red Wall” voters lost to the Tories in last year’s election.

Strategists also say Labour’s support will give the PM wiggle room to compromise and still have the votes to get an agreement through the Commons even with objections from those in his own party.

Trade talks between the EU and UK are reaching an endgame, with negotiators “working around the clock to get a deal”, according to Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove.

Approval for any deal will be needed by the end of December for it to kick in on January 1, when Britain finally severs ties with the EU.

Officially Labour said tonight that “no decision has been taken about whipping or on votes”. 

But Sir Keir ally Rachel Reeves is said to have told Labour MPs that he is leaning towards backing the plan.