Scottish Tories sign Brexit letter to PM
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The letter was signed by Dumfries and Galloway MP Alister Jack, Stirling MP Stephen Kerr and Gordon MP Colin Clark
Three Scottish Conservatives have signed a letter from pro-Brexit MPs to the prime minister calling on the UK to make a clean break with the EU.
The letter says the UK must gain full "regulatory autonomy" after Brexit, and must not be stopped from negotiating trade deals with other countries.
Alister Jack, Stephen Kerr and Colin Clark are among 62 Tory MPs to have put their names to the letter.
Mr Jack insisted it did not put them at odds with Ruth Davidson.
The letter was sent by the European Research Group of Tory backbenchers. The group is headed by leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg.
A fourth Scottish Conservative, Aberdeen South MP Ross Thomson, later said he "wholeheartedly backs" the letter, but that his name was not on it due to an "admin error".
Mr Jack, the MP for Dumfries and Galloway, told BBC Scotland that the aim was to ensure that the prime minister's promises in her Lancaster House speech a year ago will be delivered, and that the UK will leave both the single market and the customs union.
He said the letter would give Mrs May strength in her negotiations because it would show the EU that there is a "body in parliament, almost 20% of the party, that have made it quite clear that we want Brexit to mean Brexit".
'Broad church'
And he insisted that Ms Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader who was a prominent Remain campaigner ahead of the EU referendum, had "no problem" with her MPs standing up for the things they believe in.
Mr Jack said: "I hope that Ruth is supporting the Lancaster House speech - I'm sure she is, as all Conservatives are. We are a broad church and she is a very good leader.
"She does not tell us all how we have to think or how we have to vote - we vote with our consciences as members of parliament and we stand up for the things we believe in, and she has had no problem with that."
When asked by BBC Scotland at Holyrood whether she supported the letter, Ms Davidson said only that her MPs and MSPs "stand right behind the prime minister in helping her negotiate the best Brexit for the country".
She then walked off without answering any further questions.
Ruth Davidson put herself at odds with many members of her own party when she campaigned for a Remain vote ahead of the EU referendum
Ms Davidson had called again at the weekend for the UK to be able to operate and trade within the single market "to the maximum possible extent".
And she said she could "certainly" oppose the UK government's policy on future EU relations if she felt it would be damaging.
Indicating that she would fight against a "no deal" Brexit, she told ITV's Peston programme: "Falling out on WTO (World Trade Organisation) rules would not be something that I think would be to the benefit of my constituents here in Edinburgh or in the country as it is."
In their letter, the Brexit-supporting MPs backed Mrs May's commitment to leaving the customs union and single market.
But they warned that the UK must have full control over its laws immediately after Brexit and must not become a "rule taker".
Why the letter to May matters
Analysis by BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg
With no majority, she knows that she needs to keep the dozens and dozens of Brexit-backing Tory MPs broadly with her for her own government's survival.
They have accepted some shifts from the government that they used to find intolerable - a Brexit departure lounge of a couple of years rather than a sharp exit, and a bill of tens of billions.
But they are not, as this letter makes clear, up for swallowing many more compromises when it comes to getting trade deals done immediately after Brexit.
The letter includes a number of "suggestions" for securing a successful Brexit, including "taking control" of World Trade Organisation tariff schedules that regulate trading.
"The UK must be free to start its own trade negotiations immediately," the letter adds.
"The UK should negotiate as an equal partner. Ministers may not want or be able to accept the EU's timing and mandates as fixed, and should be able to set out alternative terms including, for example, building an agreement based on our World Trade Organisation membership instead.
"Any 'implementation period' should be based on WTO principles. Any implementation period must not restrain the UK from negotiating or signing other trade agreements."
'Deep divisions'
The letter was signed by Mr Jack, Stirling MP Stephen Kerr and Gordon MP Colin Clark.
It was leaked ahead of the UK setting out its position on the post-Brexit transition period later on Wednesday.
Labour said the letter exposed the "deep divisions" in the Conservatives over Brexit, and accused Mrs May of being "too weak" to confront the Brexit "fanatics" in her own party.
SNP MP Stephen Gethins said it was clear that the process of leaving the EU had been "hijacked by hard right Tories whose agenda for Brexit at any costs will be devastating for us all in terms of jobs, the economy and opportunities for young people in the future."
Mr Gethins added: "It is clear from this list of demands that the Tories don't want either a transition deal or a future relationship with the EU. It is time for the prime minister to put country before party and say no to her hard right Brexiteers."