In London, Eurosceptic MPs seem as resolute
as ever to vote against the prime minister's compromise
Brexit deal on Tuesday.
But outside the Westminster bubble,
the prime minister is facing another kind of headache,
a YouGov poll recently found that over half
of grassroots Tory members back a no-deal Brexit
over the prime minister's deal.
Crushing news for the PM who had hoped local activists
would persuade their MPs to back her Brexit deal
over the Christmas holidays.
Instead, pro-Leave members are only
hardening their stance on Brexit and their condemnation
of the negotiations.
In Rochester and Strood, voters were
clear what they wanted when it came to the EU referendum
in 2016, 64 per cent percent of voters
backed Leave while local businesses are
keen for a deal to be passed.
In Rochester, there are plenty of local Tory party
members who still believe a no-deal Brexit is the best
option.
Well, firstly I'm not in favour of no-deal.
It's much better to have a deal.
But any deal that has been constructed
that has any sort of backstop arrangement
which binds us in ad infinitum until the other 27
countries agree to let us go is not the Brexit
that I voted for.
I don't know anybody who is a Brexiteer that likes this deal
and would support this deal.
So do you support MPs who are taking
the unusual move of being disloyal
and voting down their prime minister?
I don't think that's disloyalty.
I think they're being loyal to the great majority
of British people that voted to leave.
Local Tory members who agreed to speak to us
were largely Eurosceptic men.
Few who supported the PM were willing to talk.
But we found one local member who
wants to see Conservative MPs get behind Mrs May's deal.
Philip Ruby, the chairman of Rochester West Conservative
Association, says MPs have a democratic duty
to represent the interests of all their constituents,
not just older Eurosceptic party members.
Parts of this constituency voted to leave, parts didn't.
And there's an awful lot of Labour people who didn't vote
for her.
But they need representing.
And they, and when you're a member of parliament,
you represent all of them.
And you go there and we expect you
to exercise your own judgement.
Now it's the turn of moderate One Nation Tory MPs to say:
this is the best deal we've got.
MPs in the local area are split over how they will
vote on Theresa May's deal.
Kelly Tolhurst, who's been the MP for Rochester and Strood
since 2015 when she won the seat back from Ukip,
is a government minister who will vote for the deal
under the principle of collective responsibility.
Her neighbouring MP Tracey Crouch
has vowed to vote it down, a move
which has gone down well with local members we spoke to.
Andrew Mackness lives in the dockyards of Chatham
and is the former chairman of the local Rochester and Strood
Conservative Association.
He worked on Ms Tolhurst's campaign
and today is calling on her to rebel
against her own government.
She clearly now is on the payroll
and very loyal to the prime minister and the government.
But I don't think that reflects at all what
the people of Rochester and Strood want.
So you support MPs who are seemingly
being disloyal and saying that they're
going to vote against the deal?
I do.
I think this is one that, it should be a free vote.
It was a free vote, the referendum for the nation.
This should not be party political.
It's too an important deal.
I think the Labour party is in a complete mess around what it
should do around Brexit.
But equally I think the Conservative party
is in not much better picture.
What specifically is it for you that's wrong with the PMs deal?
Brexit was about taking back control of our borders.
It was equally about being given the opportunity
to commercially trade internationally
without boundaries but leaving without a big slap
on our backside and a payment that we have to make
to get out of this club.
And really what's on the table, there
are far too many compromises.
Andrew is not alone in his scepticism.
Rupert Turpin, who's involved with his local association
here in Rochester, says he's so unhappy with the PMs deal
he'd rather stay in the EU than have it passed in the Commons.
We met outside the area's historic Rochester Castle.
I just think it's such a bad deal that we are literally
going to be taking rule-taker from Europe
without a seat at the table.
It will just make a mockery of our thousand
years of democracy.
We're the world's oldest democracy.
I've not met anyone that says it's a good deal.
Yeah.
And you are at the stage that you'd almost
rather stay in the EU than go along with the PMs deal?
I would rather do that.
Because then we could leave at a later stage.
I think we would be coming out at some stage anyway.
Because there's a lot of tensions
within Europe with the Euro and various other things.
So it will come to a point at a later stage.
But I don't want to see us as a vassal state in the EU.
As the vote approaches, MPs have a decision to make.
Should they listen to their local members
or make up their own minds?