Post-Brexit trade talks: Dover planning applications will show if UK would really walk away from negotiations The public won’t know if the Government is bluffing or not until the planning applications are submitted

This week has seen the UK’s 100-strong team of negotiators parachute in to Brussels to begin the first round of trade negotiations with the EU.

According to reports, Britain’s chief negotiator David Frost steeled himself for the talks by having a “patriotic” full-English breakfast and then delivered a pep talk to his negotiators before heading into battle.

The agenda for the first round of discussions on Tuesday and Wednesday focused on trade both in goods and services, transport, energy, fisheries, law enforcement and future participation in EU programmes, such as Erasmus+.

The i politics newsletter cut through the noise Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription.

The lead-up to the first substantive trade negotiations the UK has undertaken for nearly 50 years has been dominated by sabre-rattling and angry posturing from both sides.

‘Nasty battle’

On the eve of the talks, France’s European minister Amelie de Montchalin warned the discussions could descend into a “very nasty battle” where politicians in France and the UK are unable to compromise on issues, such as fish.

Her comments came after the UK threw down the gauntlet by insisting it would walk away from the negotiating table altogether if it does not get the sense that the “shape of a deal” is in sight by June, just three months from now.

The former Conservative Justice Secretary David Gauke suggested on Monday that Boris Johnson is purposefully setting up the talks to fail.

He stated that the political price of agreeing a deal with the EU, with all the accusations of “betraying Brexit” that it might bring, is not worth it for Downing Street and it would be better to take the economic shock of a no-deal exit early on in the Government’s life and hope to ride it out later.

But it could be that the Prime Minister is using a tried and tested method of setting a tough deadline to agree a deal in the hope of focusing minds, as was the case with the divorce deal in October.

The only real way to know whether the Government is serious with its threats or whether it is posturing is looking to see if action follows words.

Concrete plans

As industry leaders in the food and drink sectors have told me, we will know if the Government means what it says if planning applications start going in to build the extra infrastructure needed to carry out checks on goods at the border.

“That will be a concrete sign that the Government really means business if we see it building border posts in Dover, which will need planning permission or possibly compulsory purchase orders,” one industry head said.

It could be that the Government is confident it can secure planning for what is a very tightly restricted port at Dover and then build customs checking posts in less than six months.

It is likely to dust off the no-deal plans it had drawn up during the divorce talks to create lorry parks in order to deal with the expected tailbacks of hauliers at the UK border.

But the public won’t know if the Government is bluffing or not until the planning applications are submitted.