Theresa May has been warned not to retreat from a pledge to “take back control of our laws” as she faced lobbying from at least one senior minister for a compromise with Brussels over the powers of European judges after Brexit.

Eurosceptic ministers and backbenchers have expressed alarm at a plan being pushed in the Cabinet’s Brexit sub-committee for the UK to agree to a system of “voluntary referral” of cases to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) following Britain’s departure from the EU.

Mrs May has previously made the jurisdiction of the ECJ a “red line” in Britain’s negotiations, saying that the British Supreme Court would be the “ultimate arbiter” after Brexit.

On Saturday night it appeared senior figures may be attempting to bounce the Prime Minister into the move, as one Eurosceptic Cabinet minister said they did not “recognise” claims that the Cabinet would be swayed by the proposal and a senior MP said he understood she was opposed to the move.

The row, which threatens to engulf the Government in the final weeks before crunch talks with European leaders, comes after Brandon Lewis, the immigration minister, said during the week that the question of the ECJ’s jurisdiction was “part of the negotiations and this has not concluded yet”.