Courts supported the successful 'Leave' campaign in the EU referendum on 23 June 2016. He is a member of the eurosceptic European Research Group, having subscribed in April 2017. Courts was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in January 2018, but resigned as a PPS on 15 July 2018, in protest of the White Paper on Exiting the European Union and the Chequers Agreement. Courts was a supporter of the proposed free trade deal with Australia and New Zealand, describing it as a 'no-brainer'.