As the cabinet heads to Chequers to try again to agree on a Brexit strategy, it might usefully ask itself: what exactly is the point of quitting the European Union? After a week of speechifying by ministers, it is easier to identify what the government wants to stay the same rather than to change.

Mrs May wants no change to the UK’s security co-operation with EU, which means continued participation in the European Arrest Warrant and Europol; the foreign secretary Boris Johnson extols the virtues of free movement — at least for British citizens; David Davis insists that the government has no intention of turning itself into a European version of Singapore — who could think such a thing? — but instead wants to lead