The Eurosceptics Iain Duncan Smith, Owen Paterson and Theresa Villiers arrive at the Cabinet Office for a meeting of the Alternative Arrangements Working Group

Tory MPs challenging Theresa May over her plans for avoiding a hard border with Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit are likely to head to Northern Ireland tomorrow, after extensive talks yesterday.

The alternative arrangements working group comprising Remain supporters Damian Green and Nicky Morgan, and Brexiteers Owen Paterson, Steve Baker, Iain Duncan Smith, Marcus Fysh and Theresa Villiers, met Steve Barclay, the Brexit secretary, and officials “from all arms of government”.

Olly Robbins, Mrs May’s chief negotiator, stayed away, which MPs said showed that the prime minister was taking seriously the Malthouse compromise, an alternative to the so-called Irish backstop. The Tory MPs were accompanied by Shanker Singham, a consultant for the Institute of Economic Affairs, a free-market think tank. One source