The trouble with a compromise is that it can leave all parties dissatisfied at the end of the day. For hard-line Brexiteers in the Tory party, the Chequers compromise is too soft a Brexit for them to condone, fearing it will be further diluted in negotiations from an already unacceptable starting point. For remainers, the proposals throw away the advantages of being in the EU in terms of the economy and at the political level (the UK will have no veto nor a voice in key decision making) for no tangible gain. For the EU, the proposals are nothing short of unacceptable cherry-picking and the task is to see if a further compromise may be found that it could live with.
Donald Trump is in the UK for a state visit and has blundered into the argument (debate is too refined a term), stating that the UK’s current position would make a free trade deal with the US, the world’s largest economy, all but impossible. The overarching reason for Brexit from the right wing of the Tory party is that it will enable “global Britain” to negotiate free trade deals with the rest of the world. The fact that no serious voices from the business community have been clamouring for free-trade deals prior to Brexit or in its aftermath tells you all that you need to know on this subject, but Brexiters imagine free-trade to be a panacea to all ills. They have been remarkably silent on the USA’s trade war with much of the rest of the world, of course.
The White Paper that presents the governments Brexit plans has been roundly criticised on all sides. It calls for an effective UK-EU single market on goods which would require that the UK maintains regulatory standards with the EU (as if it continued to be a member), but wants an end to free movement of EU citizens and the supremacy of the ECJ (this is why the EU are unlikely to accept the UK position). This would mean that the UK needed to respect EU standards for all goods (including agricultural produce) which is why Trump made his claim. The White Paper makes no call for services to be included in the new relationship – 80% of UK GDP is based on service activities.
Given that Canada has already got a free-trade deal with the EU and that New Zealand and Australia are negotiating one, the benefits of the UK’s being able to set its own trade deals all but evaporate if a US deal is now off the table. The effect of Brexit will be that it makes trading with the UK’s biggest partner (the EU) more difficult and costly, but hey, Brexit means Brexit!.