Beth Rigby, Senior Political Correspondent

Ever since Britain voted to leave the EU, politicians on opposing sides of the argument have been locked in a phoney war over what Brexit means.

Will Britons end up eating chlorinated chicken in order to secure a free trade deal with the US?

Will our hospital wards end up with chronic nursing shortages?

Will British planes be allowed to fly in EU airspace once we leave the bloc?


What we eat, who cares for us, where we go on holiday - on each of these issues, how the Government manages Brexit will affect our daily lives.

And yet, for the past 14 months, Theresa May has assiduously avoided being pinned down on anything apart from a commitment to leave the single market and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.

Image: David Davis will hold another round of Brexit negotiations later this month

From the spectre of chlorinated chicken being served up on dinner plates to grounded Ryanair flights, there is a lot of heat around Brexit but very little light.

Little wonder then that more than 60% of voters polled by ORB International in early August said they disapproved of the Government's handling of Brexit negotiations.

This was up 17 percentage points from April, when the Prime Minister called the snap General Election.

The information vacuum around Brexit is frustrating for the public, as well as for journalists like myself trying to cover the story.

So I was genuinely pleased this week when some of my sources in Government told me that No 10 is finally going to start releasing information about the nuts and bolts of their strategy, with a series of position papers on Brexit matters.

Up to 10 documents on a range of subjects - from the thorny issue of the Irish border to the continued trade of goods and services post-Brexit - are being passed around Cabinet ministers.

The idea is to get collective sign-off for each paper and bind Remainers and Leavers into a united position to "strengthen the hand" of Brexit Secretary David Davis, who enters another round of negotiations with the European Commission at the end of August.

It will be a Herculean task for the Prime Minister to hold her party together.

After months of prevaricating and obfuscating, these papers will finally put a bit of meat on the Brexit bones.

The process might even given the impression that Mrs May is finally back on the offensive after that devastating General Election result.

But don't be fooled into thinking an outbreak of consensus over Brexit has broken out around the Cabinet table.

This first round of position papers have been purposely picked to show unity and give the impression the Prime Minister and her team are in control and well prepared.

Insiders tell me there will be no position paper on the rather thorny issue of the Brexit bill.

This is despite it being one of the three areas - alongside EU citizens' rights (paper published) and the Irish border (position paper imminent) - where "sufficient progress" has to be made before the UK can move on from divorce details to talks about our future relationship with the EU.

Conservative figures tell me agreeing the money will be Mrs May's political minefield of the autumn.

Just look at the response to a report over the weekend claiming Britain was prepared to pay a £36bn Brexit bill.

It sent leading Brexiteers into a tail spin, with backbench MP Jacob Rees-Mogg insisting there is "no logic" to the sum and ex-Cabinet minister Owen Paterson dismissing the whole thing as "barmy".

Britain could pay EU £36bn to settle Brexit divorce

Mrs May knows how vicious - and paralysing - these battles between her Government and hardline eurosceptics will be.

The Prime Minister called the snap General Election in the hope a swell of new Tories to her party's benches in the House of Commons would drown out these vociferous Brexiteers.

She failed in that, but the Brexit deadline marches on.

Once the German elections on 24 September are over, the real horse trading will begin.

And if you thought the phoney wars of recent months have been bitter, wait for the real battles.

It will be a Herculean task for the Prime Minister to hold her party together.

Britain might have voted for Brexit, but watch those dissatisfaction ratings over Mrs May's handling of our EU departure spike as her Cabinet and party descend into all out war.

Sky Views is a series of comment pieces by Sky News editors and correspondents, published every morning.

Previously on Sky Views: Tom Cheshire - Why we're at risk of being forgotten