Brexit analysis: Theresa May showed strength at Chequers but trouble may lie ahead on immigration

The Cabinet backed Theresa May's Brexit plans at a crunch away day at Chequers.

Boris Johnson’s four-letter rant about the plan at Friday’s Chequers away day, briefed to the Sunday newspapers, was about the extent of it, to the chagrin of backbench Brexiteers who had urged Ministers to walk out if they did not get their way.

There may be noises off now about a backbench coup but with the Cabinet onside it appears unlikely.

So Mrs May has diverted the country towards a softer Brexit and saved her job.

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But the real crunch may come further down the line, with Brexiteers fearing the PM may cross the ultimate red line by favouring EU citizens on immigration to get a good trade deal on services, which make up 80 per cent of the economy but are excluded from the Chequers plan.

Mrs May says her plan means the UK will be able to maintain a soft border with Ireland and be free to strike trade deals around the world.

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But without free movement over the frontier with the EU, it is difficult to see how border posts will not be erected on the island of Ireland.

Moreover, the plan appears to have cost her the much-trumpeted prize of a huge trade deal with the US, which has much lower goods standards than those the EU and UK will be signed up to.

Of more immediate importance is how the EU will react.

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Mrs May has consistently tried to go over the head of Commission chief negotiator Michel Barnier and straight to EU leaders.

And she has again urged Brussels to be more “flexible” and give the plan a hearing.

But throughout the process EU unity has been stronger than the UK was expecting and if the PM’s plan, which appears to be hated “cherry-picking”, comes a cropper, trouble may lie ahead.