DAVID Davis launched a staunch defence of Britain's Brexit negotiating hand amid bitter Tory infighting and claims that the UK Government was "frightened" of Brexiteer MPs.

The former Brexit Secretary made his first Commons speech since his dramatic resignation from the Government over its White Paper, which set out Theresa May’s Chequers Plan to keep Britain close to the EU on goods and food.

As UK ministers struggled to keep Tory tensions in check, Mr Davis urged his colleagues to back the Government’s Customs Bill and Tuesday’s Trade Bill before arguing how business could operate post-Brexit.

The former Secretary of State bemoaned the EU for being a "slow and not very effective" negotiator of free trade agreements as he claimed the UK had distinct advantages "over and above our economic weight"; including the English language, law and the internet.

Mr Davis's remarks came after an emotive speech from leading Remainer Anna Soubry, the former Business Minister, as she urged Tory colleagues to have a "reality check" on Brexit and consider how the party was conducting itself.

After insisting the group of 40 "hard, no-deal Brexiteers" should be "seen off" by the Prime Minister, she commented amid stormy scenes in the Commons on her leader’s move to accept their four amendments to the customs legislation, saying it now seemed their leader, Jacob Rees-Mogg, was “running Britain”.

Ms Soubry was among those who said she could not support a new clause which would prevent the UK collecting tariffs on behalf of the EU unless it reciprocated and agreed to collect them from the UK and another Brexiteer amendment, which would stop the UK from joining the EU's VAT regime.

Her fellow Remainer, Dominic Grieve, the former Attorney General, branded the two changes "unnecessary" and "useless", adding the reason behind their tabling was a "malevolent" one.

Also referring to two Brexiteer amendments, Ken Clarke, the pro-EU ex-Chancellor, noted: "If one week after the Government has set out a policy, which I'm prepared personally to give a fair wind to, I find that they are going to accept amendments like new clause 73 and new clause 36 which promptly change the policy in a quite ridiculous way, I shall despair."

For Labour, Peter Dowd told MPs: "It took two years for the Prime Minister to reach her Chequers deal but only two days for it to fall apart.

"The Government can't get agreement with their own MPs, let alone with the European Union. The White Paper lies in tatters, the Government is in freefall and Theresa May has no authority left," declared the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Speaking at the bill's report stage, Mr Davis said "the most difficult issue" was that of the Irish border, noting: "There's no way, however, a UK Government is ever going to install a hard border in Northern Ireland."

Surrounded by Brexiteers, he pointed out: "There may be 300 border crossings but there are only six ports; so rest of world imports can actually be surveilled and controlled very straightforwardly.

"So, the issue which…was actually working quite well in negotiations before it became politicised is eminently soluble, soluble by technical means, soluble by co-operation between the two states."

*Earlier, an SNP bid to hold an emergency debate on the "chaotic" handling of the Brexit White Paper was refused.

Pete Wishart, the Nationalists’ constitutional affairs spokesman, claimed the Government's decision not to hand out copies of the document prior to last Thursday’s debate broke the ministerial code.

But Dame Eleanor Laing, the Deputy Speaker, said she was “not persuaded” to allow such a debate.