IT was a snapshot of a country riven by Brexit divisions...

In a packed conference hall at Newton Rigg College, Penrith and the Border MP Rory Stewart spent more than an hour trying to convince his audience that Theresa May’s EU Withdrawal deal is right for the UK.

It was a big ask.

A succession of speakers fired objections, questions, and statements of belief at the MP, who is also the government’s prisons minister.

But doggedly, calmly, and with the politeness you would expect of a former diplomat, he absorbed the verbal punches, at times grimacing as a few more passionate speakers tore into the deal, which will be voted on by MPs next week.

One man told Mr Stewart: “Just over a year ago, I stood in the election to represent the people of Penrith and the Border. You were elected - to represent everyone, whether they voted for you or not.

“On Tuesday, are you going to represent this constituency?” (Penrith voted to leave the EU with a 2.000 majority).

Mr Stewart, who voted to remain in the EU, replied: “I believe [the PM’s deal] is the most moderate, and pragmatic way of healing this country.” He acknowledged the continuing divisions, voiced - at times passionately - at the meeting.

Another questioner - favouring a second Brexit referendum - spoke of the misinformation that circulated before 2016 vote. “It’s time for a retrial,” he told the meeting.

One man interjected with the comment: “If Parliament can’t make a decision, then someone has to.” On the calls for another referendum, Mr Stewart said: “I can guarantee there was absolutely no evidence on the basis of the last referendum that anybody would feel fine about it.If it happened again, people would feel cheated again.”

Even if remainers won another referendum, the majority would be slender and followed by a campaign for yet another vote, said Mr Stewart. “Quite moderate people in this room would be quite tempted to break windows; and there would be a new supercharged UKIP,” he said.

A second referendum would trigger a split of our nation’s political parties under a “banner of betrayal,” he said.

He added: “Every single member of Parliament, without exception, promised to respect the result of the referendum. Some are now saying that they have changed their mind, but all of them promised to do it; the government promised to do it. Parliament itself passed a bill to respect the result of this referendum. Please don’t underestimate the consequences of doing that.

“You would be re-entering the family home half-way through divorce proceedings, moving back in.”

John Studholme, chairman of the Vote Leave organisation in Cumbria, attacked Theresa May’s deal, saying: “We don’t have a unilateral right to withdraw; I didn’t give my permission to make a deal which future generations, and future politicians, can’t change. You don’t have the right to do that.”

A former New Zealander captured the meeting’s mood as he likened the 2016 vote to switching on a cellar light and discovering a leak.

“It revealed that the nation is divided,” he told Mr Stewart. “I applaud you because you are unwilling to call another referendum. If we had one, it would only tell us what we already know: that the nation is divided.”

After the meeting, Mr Stewart said of Mrs May’s deal: “We’re leaving the EU’s political institutions, with no more talk of ever closer union or a European army; we’re taking back control of our borders and immigration; and we’re doing it while keeping very close access to European trade; and we’re doing it without having to pay billions of pounds over to the EU.”

A Norway style option - supported by Carlisle MP John Stevenson - would involve accepting immigration, with no real option of limit numbers, he said. The UK would also have to pay huge sums of money for access to the single market; and there would be a border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

The meeting ended with applause for Mr Stewart, but it did nothing to hide the county’s deep Brexit divide.