Theresa May’s promise to publish “ambitious and precise” plans for Brexit this month is likely to be broken after more cabinet infighting.

A detailed white paper – designed to put the UK on the front foot in the troubled talks – is now not expected to appear until after a crunch EU summit at the end of June.

The document is said to still be “riddled with red ink”, with the prime minister reluctant to confront warring cabinet ministers over controversies including future customs rules and the Irish border.

It was due to be published before the two-day Brussels summit, starting on 28 June, but Ms May’s spokesman refused to say that timetable would be met. “I’ve not put a timeframe on it, other than we will bring it forward as soon as possible,” he said.

If the white paper does not appear until after the summit, it will not be published until July – despite the promise to set out “detailed, ambitious and precise” proposals in June.

Such a delay will be seized on as fresh evidence that the cabinet is fatally split on customs arrangements and how to avoid border checks in Ireland.

Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An abandoned shop is seen in Mullan, Co Monaghan. The building was home to four families who left during the Troubles. The town was largely abandoned after the hard border was put in place during the conflict. Mullan has seen some regeneration in recent years, but faces an uncertain future with Brexit on the horizon Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A defaced ‘Welcome to Northern Ireland’ sign stands on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Mervyn Johnson owns a garage in the border town of Pettigo, which straddles the counties of Donegal and Fermanagh. ‘I’ve been here since 1956, it was a bit of a problem for a few years. My premises has been blown up about six or seven times, we just kept building and starting again,’ Johnson said laughing. ‘We just got used to it [the hard border] really but now that it’s gone, we wouldn't like it back again’ Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Farmer Gordon Crockett’s Coshquin farm straddles both Derry/Londonderry in the North and Donegal in the Republic. ‘At the minute there is no real problem, you can cross the border as free as you want. We could cross it six or eight times a day,’ said Crockett. ‘If there was any sort of obstruction it would slow down our work every day’ Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures John Murphy flies the European flag outside his home near the border village of Forkhill, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Potter Brenda McGinn stands outside her Mullan, Co Monaghan, studio – the former Jas Boylan shoe factory which was the main employer in the area until it shut down due to the Troubles. ‘When I came back, this would have been somewhere you would have driven through and have been quite sad. It was a decrepit looking village,’ said McGinn, whose Busy Bee Ceramics is one of a handful of enterprises restoring life to the community. ‘Now this is a revitalised, old hidden village’ Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Union Flag colours painted on kerbstones and bus-stops along the border village of Newbuildings, Co Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Grass reflected in Lattone Lough, which is split by the border between Cavan and Fermanagh, seen from near Ballinacor, Northern Ireland Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Donegalman David McClintock sits in the Border Cafe in the village of Muff, which straddles Donegal and Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An old Irish phone box stands alongside a bus stop in the border town of Glaslough, Co Monaghan Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Billboards are viewed from inside a disused customs hut in Carrickcarnon, Co Down, on the border with Co Louth in the Republic Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Seamus McQuaid takes packages that locals on the Irish side of the border have delivered to his business, McQuaid Auto-Parts, to save money on postal fees, near the Co Fermanagh village of Newtownbutler. ‘I live in the south but the business is in the North,’ said McQaid. "I wholesale into the Republic of Ireland so if there’s duty, I’ll have to set up a company 200 yards up the road to sell to my customers. I’ll have to bring the same product in through Dublin instead of Belfast’ Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A disused Great Northern Railway line and station that was for customs and excise on the border town of Glenfarne, Co Leitrim Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Alice Mullen, from Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland, does her shopping at a former customs post on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh. ‘I’d be very worried if it was a hard border, I remember when people were divided. I would be very afraid of the threat to the peace process, it was a dreadful time to live through. Even to go to mass on a Sunday, you’d have to go through checkpoints. It is terribly stressful,’ said Mullen. ‘All those barricades and boundaries were pulled down. I see it as a huge big exercise of trust and I do believe everyone breathed a sigh of relief’ Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A bus stop and red post box stand in the border town of Jonesborough, Co Armagh Reuters

Hopes of a breakthrough this month are also fading on the continent. Peter Ptassek, Germany’s Brexit envoy, tweeted that little meaningful progress would be reached at the summit.

“Not many are expecting very much now,” he wrote. “If this is so, October would then have to solve ALL problems – withdrawal, Northern Ireland, governance and future – in one go. Odds are still unclear.”

Meanwhile, No 10 is expected to publish its own plans for the “backstop” option, to keep the Irish border open, possibly at the end of this week.

The prime minister has rejected the EU’s proposal for Northern Ireland only to keep EU customs and regulations, if no other solution can be found, because it would create a border in the Irish Sea.

Pro-Brexit cabinet ministers have agreed to a temporary UK-wide version of the backstop – but Brussels has already rejected Ms May’s insistence that it must be “time limited”.

When the white paper was announced last month, it was hailed as the opportunity for the UK to start negotiating with Brussels on its terms – instead of simply reacting to EU proposals.

However, hopes that the cabinet could reach agreement on which of two suggested customs arrangements it will back have since drained away.

A majority of key ministers rejected Ms May’s preferred “customs partnership” – which would see the UK collect EU tariffs – and it cannot be implemented before 2023 anyway.

Meanwhile, customs chiefs appeared to torpedo the alternative, technology based “max fac” proposal favoured by Brexiteers, after revealing it would cost businesses up £20bn a year.

As well as customs, the white paper is also designed to cover long-term arrangements for security, financial services, aviation and fisheries – which are all meant to be agreed in principle by October.

David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, was keen to publish before the summit, but appears to have been unable to convince the prime minister to demand cabinet consensus.