IT'S "game on" for campaigners trying to keep the country in the single market and the customs union after Brexit, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon vowed yesterday after the UK Cabinet finally agreed a plan to mirror EU regulations over trade.

After a day of intensive discussions at the Prime Minister's country seat, Chequers, on Friday Theresa May managed to secure the agreement of her top ministerial team to proposals setting out the country's future relationship with the European Union.

The plans, which still have to be assessed by the 27 other nations of the EU, would result in the creation of a UK-EU free trade area for goods, with a "common rulebook".

"It's a Trojan Horse deal," is how rising SNP star Christopher McEleny described it, predicting that the EU would reject the proposal. "This is fantasy politics," added McEleny, who is also the leader of the party group on Inverclyde Council. "Every single one of the 27 EU members has to agree it and the plain truth is that they won't."

His comments seemed to be at odds with Sturgeon's, who described the plan as having "more realism in it than we've seen before from UK government", although she added "that's not saying much".

Hardline eurosceptic MPs have begun to voice concerns over May’s plans to negotiate a soft Brexit deal. Leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg has already warned he will have to wait to see "have the red lines been turned pink", as he claimed the proposals could be worse than a no-deal Brexit.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4 he said: "As with eggs. An egg that is very softly boiled isn't boiled at all. A very soft Brexit means that we haven't left, we are simply a rule-taker. That is not something that this country voted for, it is not what the Prime Minister promised." A comment underlined by fellow Tory Andrea Jenkyns MP.

The former Ukip leader Nigel Farage described it as a sell out. “Theresa May has betrayed us all – and Brexiteer ministers are letting her get away with it,” he said.

However, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said the newly outlined Brexit plan would deliver for Scotland in three key areas, "providing Scottish business with frictionless access to the EU market, withdrawing the Scottish fishing industry from the hated Common Fisheries Policy and, by ensuring no border in the Irish Sea, bolstering Scotland's biggest and most important market, the UK internal market."

She also hit out at the SNP, claiming Scottish nationalists had "used the Brexit referendum as a pretext for pulling our country apart".

Downing Street is now engaged in desperate efforts to win over Tory Eurosceptics after May's Brexit compromise plan which keeping the UK closely tied to Brussels was agreed by her Cabinet.

The Prime Minister's inner circle is now desperately trying to secure support from the party's eurosceptics for the proposals to create a new UK-EU free trade area for goods.

Cabinet Brexiteers may have already been persuaded to support the plans after a marathon session of talks at Chequers, but backbench eurosceptics continue to express grave doubts.

The common rulebook for goods, including food and agricultural products, could limit the UK's ability to strike trade deals with countries such as the US, for whom securing market access for American farmers would be a big prize. The cabinet Brexiter Chris Grayling acknowledged the proposal could lead to issues in negotiating a US trade deal.

Full details will be published in a white paper on Thursday, with Brussels expecting a round of negotiations in the week following.

The SNP's McEleny predicted that May's team would blame a failure of negotiations on the EU and that the final outcome would be a hard Brexit.