Gareth Johnson has resigned as a government whip and says he will vote against the Brexit deal tomorrow.

The Dartford MP said it was time to put his loyalty “to my country” ahead of the government.

He had been the only one of Kent's 17 MPs to declare his position but has now come out against the deal.

In his resignation letter, he says that he cannot “in all conscience support the government’s position when it is clear this deal would be detrimental to the nation’s interests.”

The MP had previously said he was unhappy with aspects of the deal and wanted to see what the terms of the government’s meaningful vote would be.

He says he cannot support a deal which includes the controversial Northern Ireland backstop as “a committed Unionist.”

He said he had backed leaving the EU in the referendum because he wanted to see the country regain the sovereignty that had been lost as a member of the EU.

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“Unfortunately, this agreement prevents us taking back control and instead could lead us perpetually constrained by the European Union,” he writes.

His resignation will be a blow to the government which is said to be facing a heavy defeat in tomorrow’s vote.

It means 10 of the county’s Conservative MPs will now vote against the deal tomorrow.