Theresa May welcomed Malcolm Turnbull, prime minister of Australia to Chequers on Saturday. She will ask the cabinet to give her room for manoeuvre on a European customs deal

Theresa May will face calls from senior Brexit-supporting ministers to ditch her favoured option for a customs deal with the EU at a meeting this week.

David Davis, Liam Fox and Boris Johnson are to press the prime minister to abandon the plan as fears grow that she is paving the way for a compromise on the issue.

They will confront her at a meeting of the cabinet’s Brexit sub-committee, scheduled for Wednesday. The ministers believe that the so-called customs partnership is unworkable and is encouraging Brussels to press for Britain to stay in a customs union after Brexit.

The customs union issue is becoming an increasing problem for Downing Street. Today, it was forced to insist that Mrs May would not use a vote