Theresa May concedes customs partnership plan is 'dead' after senior ministers turn their backs

Theresa May has conceded that her plans for a customs partnership with the EU are “dead” after senior cabinet ministers turned on her.

Newly-appointed Home Secretary Sajid Javid was among those who came out against the proposals following a crunch meeting with the Prime Minister on Wednesday.

Mrs May had asked officials to draw up revised plans after her so-called “war cabinet” refused to unite behind either of the two options on the table.

And a source close to the Prime Minister told the Telegraph Mrs May’s proposed model for a customs partnership is “dead” and that there “cannot be one”.

The source told the newspaper: “It’s possible that elements of the customs partnership idea might be incorporated into a new model, but in its current form the customs partnership idea is dead.”

Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins and his team are expected to come forward with amended proposals swiftly so that ministers can arrive at a preferred option, possibly as early as next week.

New Cabinet members Mr Javid and Gavin Williamson both came out in the meeting against the "customs partnership" model, under which the UK would collect tariffs on behalf of the EU.

Their opposition came after Eurosceptic Tory backbenchers signalled that they regarded the partnership plan - branded "cretinous" by Jacob Rees-Mogg - as unacceptable, because it would deliver Brexit in name only.

The Home Secretary and Defence Secretary are understood to have joined senior Brexiteers like Boris Johnson, David Davis and Liam Fox in voicing a preference for the so-called "maximum facilitation" arrangement - known as "Max Fac" - which would use new technology to avoid the need for border checks in Ireland.

A Number 10 source said there was agreement in the Brexit strategy and negotiations sub-committee that Britain should leave the European customs union in order to be able to have control of its own trade policy.

In a meeting which ran over to last two and a half hours, Mrs May told colleagues that the final arrangement must ensure there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic and no customs border down the Irish Sea, and leave trade with the remaining EU "as frictionless as possible".

Concerns were voiced over whether the technological solution would satisfy concerns in Brussels about the potential for a porous border and whether the partnership arrangement would allow the UK to have a truly independent trade policy.