Has Chequers been chucked?

Theresa May heads to Italy this weekend for her summer holiday with her Brexit proposals hanging by a thread. Not only has the Chequers plan divided her party, led to front bench resignations and talk of a ‘no confidence’ vote, Brussels don’t seem all that keen on it either. As James notes on Coffee House, Michel Barnier appeared to deal it a fatal blow in his joint press conference with Dominic Raab on Thursday. The EU’s chief negotiator made clear that the UK collecting tariffs on behalf of the EU – a key plank of the proposal – was a non-starter:

‘The EU cannot and the EU will not delegate the application of its customs policy and rules and VAT and excises duty collection to a non-member who would not be subject to the EU’s governance structures.