Negotiations in Brussels have stepped up in recent days ahead of a high-stakes EU summit next week Some euroskeptics, notably House of Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, are said to be considering quitting. LONDON: Prime Minister Theresa May will not “trap” Britain in an endless customs union with the European Union after Brexit, her office insisted Friday amid growing unease in her cabinet and party that this might be the price of a divorce deal. Negotiations in Brussels have stepped up in recent days ahead of a high-stakes EU summit next week, with both sides seeking a breakthrough less than six months before Brexit in March 2019. May briefed selected members of her cabinet late Thursday on the talks, at which several ministers reportedly expressed deep unease at a plan to avoid frontier checks with EU member Ireland. Some euroskeptics, notably House of Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, are said to be considering quitting. Britain has proposed that it continue to follow EU customs rules after Brexit as a fall-back option to keep open the land border with Ireland, until a wider trade deal is agreed that avoids the need for frontier checks. May says this will only be temporary, but her spokeswoman was forced to clarify the point after media reports that the final “backstop” arrangement will have no legal end date. “The prime minister would never agree to a deal which could trap the UK in a backstop permanently,” she said. The Downing Street spokeswoman repeated that Britain wanted a new trade deal by the end of December 2021 at the latest, although she declined to confirm the backstop would be “time-limited.” Her careful words only fueled speculation of a compromise with Brussels, although Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab later said the backstop would have to be “finite,” “short” and “time-limited.” Brussels has insisted that, as an insurance plan, the backstop cannot by its very nature have an end date. However, euroskeptics in May’s Conservative party are wary of being tied to the bloc indefinitely. “That won’t wash. The British people voted to take back control over money, laws, borders and trade,” said former Brexit minister Steve Baker, one of a powerful group of euroskeptic Conservative MPs in parliament.