LONDON — Britain is about to show its hand in Brexit negotiations in plans that reveal the U.K. wants a smooth route out of the European Union.

The U.K. will seek a transitional customs agreement with the EU before moving to a new permanent relationship under plans sent to relevant members of Theresa May's Cabinet for agreement before being published later this month, according to senior government officials.

The proposal — if it is agreed politically — will be set out in an official “position paper” that has been penciled in for publication the week of August 14, an official familiar with the content of the paper said. A second position paper, outlining the government’s long-awaited “solution” to the Northern Ireland border issue, which the U.K. considers bound up with its customs relationship with the EU, has been earmarked for publication the same week, officials said.

The position papers will form part of what officials described as a “big push” to counter a perception among the EU27 that the U.K. is underprepared for Brexit. They are the first of up to a dozen U.K. position papers to be published by the government over the next two months, ahead of the crucial October European Council summit, as set out to POLITICO in conversations with five senior U.K. government officials involved in the preparations for Brexit.

The plans show the British government wants a smooth exit from the EU that preserves trading relations in a nod to Chancellor Philip Hammond's vision of a more gradual divergence from Brussels as opposed to the hard break preferred by more hard-line cabinet ministers such as Trade Secretary Liam Fox. It is not yet clear whether the proposed transitional arrangement would allow the U.K. to strike trade deals with third countries outside the EU.

The bulk of the work on the position papers was completed some time ago, but in recent weeks there has been a discernible “pickup of the pace,” one of the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“There is a cranking up of the machine into another gear. There is an awareness that we have to get to the European Council having shown seriousness,” the official said.

The U.K.'s performance during the first substantive round of talks last month was criticized in Brussels and in the British press for appearing slapdash, an impression encapsulated by a photo of Brexit Secretary David Davis and his team seated at the negotiating table without notes, while EU negotiators arrived with reams of papers. Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator, was particularly frustrated by the U.K.'s refusal to put forward a counter-proposal setting out the cost of divorce.

The U.K. will make a concerted effort in the next round of talks later this month to agree on a final package on the rights of EU citizens who want to stay in the U.K. and British citizens living elsewhere in the EU, an issue that is also among the EU27's top 3 priorities. “We want to put it to bed as soon as possible,” the official said. “We will exert some pressure to get that one over the line at the next round.”

The plans make clear the U.K.'s priorities for the next rounds of talks. They suggest the two sides are aligned on the importance of citizens' rights and the need for agreement on the Irish border. The EU has insisted “sufficient progress” must be made on its top 3 priorities — citizens’ rights, Britain’s financial obligations to the EU and the Irish border — before talks can consider future relations between Britain and the rest of the bloc.

But while the EU is likely to welcome the emerging clarity in London's position, senior U.K. aides said the government remains determined to hold back on resolving how much the U.K. must pay to settle what the EU sees as its financial liabilities, a move that is likely to infuriate Brussels.

The U.K. is also insistent that the Irish border question must be considered alongside future customs arrangements, something the EU wants to delay until its first three priorities are resolved.

Customs arrangements 'critical'

While Britain’s future customs agreement with the EU is not on the agenda for this month’s Brexit talks, the U.K. believes the issue is “inextricably linked” to the Northern Ireland question, which Brussels has demanded progress on. By publishing the two documents together before the talks in Brussels, London hopes to persuade Barnier that the two cannot be dealt with separately.

Under the original plan drawn up in Whitehall, with input from No. 10 Downing Street, the position papers were set to be published in two tranches — one before the August talks in Brussels and the second before the next round in September.

However, the publication dates are now in flux, according to aides familiar with the discussions. Officials have even discussed publishing them all simultaneously this month in a show of force to counter accusations that the British government does not have a plan.

The customs paper is regarded by the U.K.'s Brexit team as being of “critical importance,” according to one senior government official involved in the planning process who asked to remain anonymous.

“The one we’re looking at most intently is customs,” the official said. There has been input from HMRC — the department responsible for tax collection — from the Treasury and from leaders in Northern Ireland, the official added. "That’s the paper that’s most critical,” he said.

The customs position paper will substantially clarify the government’s proposals on an issue that had been left wide open.

In her Lancaster House speech in January, May set out a range of options: a completely new customs arrangement; associate membership of the existing customs union; or the U.K. signing up to “some elements” of the customs union and not others.

However, she also ruled out remaining part of the EU’s common commercial policy and common external tariff — elements of the customs union that, she said, prevent the U.K. striking its own free-trade agreements with other countries.

A key question for Cabinet to decide will be whether the U.K.’s proposals reconcile May’s wish for “frictionless” trade with the EU and avoiding arduous customs checks, with the need to liberate Britain from measures that would restrict future bilateral trade talks, either during any transition period or afterward.

The position paper dedicated to Northern Ireland will set out the U.K.’s long-awaited proposals for avoiding a “hard border” with the Republic of Ireland.

Fox has indicated he would not support a transition arrangement that prevented him making trade deals. He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show in July that such a settlement would disadvantage the U.K. if Britain “wouldn’t be able to take full advantage of the freedoms available to us when we leave the European Union.”

Some of his Cabinet colleagues — most notably Hammond — have indicated they favor a longer transition. In a speech in June, the chancellor told finance and business leaders in the City of London that Britain will “almost certainly need an implementation period, outside the customs union itself, but with current customs border arrangements remaining in place, until new long-term arrangements are up and running.” He added that such frictionless customs arrangements were needed to keep the Irish land border "free-flowing."

Northern Ireland proposal

Both sides agree Northern Ireland is a priority, though neither has yet put forward a proposal to manage the land border without destabilizing peace in the region once the U.K. leaves the bloc.

London hopes its position paper will break the deadlock on the issue, which is being managed directly by Britain’s leading Brexit official Oliver Robbins, the permanent secretary at the Department for Exiting the European Union and May's EU sherpa, and by Barnier's deputy Sabine Weyand.

Northern Ireland is viewed by the EU27 as an exit issue — and therefore a priority for the initial phases of Brexit talks — but Britain believes a resolution depends heavily upon issues that the EU considers to be part of the future relationship bucket of issues, namely customs and transition.

The position paper dedicated to Northern Ireland will set out the U.K.’s long-awaited proposals for avoiding a "hard border" with the Republic of Ireland. While officials declined to share details of the plan, the U.K. government has been considering technical fixes — such as camera recognition technology and pre-registered cargo — to minimize the need for physical border check points.

London is not convinced by arguments, made recently by Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, that the matter cannot be resolved by such “technical solutions." One of the U.K. officials said Coveney’s comments, to RTÉ in July, had been “premature.”

The British have been “taken aback” by the more assertive tone of the new Irish administration, under Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, the official added. On Friday, Varadkar called on the U.K., if it must leave the EU customs union, to join a new bilateral customs union with the EU similar to Turkey’s.

With talks due to resume in the last week of August, both sides in the negotiation will soon find out exactly how far they are apart on key issues.