It will inevitably be Brexit week – for this is the week when formal triggering of Article 50 will take place, with a letter from Theresa May to Donald Tusk, President of the European Council. There will be an immediate reply.

Because the process of leaving is both inevitable and contentious, there will be a huge amount of political noise across then UK and the continent. The problem will be to distinguish what is new and interesting and what is old and pointless.

Strip it down and what matters is the future long-term relationship between the UK and Europe, not the detail of the deal. So the thing to look for will be any indication of how that relationship might develop. Will it be fundamentally cooperative or fundamentally antagonistic?

Clues about that will start to come through on Monday when Sir Keir Starmer sets out Labour’s six tests for supporting Brexit. The idea of having such tests borrows from Gordon Brown’s five tests for joining, or rather not joining, the euro. So it is a device to get round an internal political problem, for there is chasm between the views of its metropolitan professional supporters and its traditional voters.

But the reaction to the tests will be interesting, because there are some issues, such as the protection of the rights of EU citizens already in the UK, that will have resonance among solid Brexiteers as well as the remaining Remainers. The wider reaction within the UK will be more important than the tests themselves.

Article 50: What will happen after it's triggered?

Next, on Wednesday, comes the letter from the Prime Minister and the response from the EC President. These are formal documents, both already drafted, and I would be astounded if there were any surprises in either. But words matter, and if the tone is positive – stress on future cooperation, for example – then that will be a helpful signal as to how the relationship may develop.

One way of gauging this tone will be the reaction of sterling. Some sort of Brexit is of course “in the market”. But there a debate taking place as to whether the possibility of a hard Brexit, perhaps as a result of a breakdown in negotiations, is fully recognised. Put simply, a negative tone would be signalled by a fall in the pound, a positive one by a rise.

Then there will be the Great Repeal Bill or, more probably, the European Union Bill on Thursday, which is really just a technical necessity to put EU-related legislation into UK law.

Once everything is in UK law, then the Government and Parliament can pick which bits to keep and which to dump. But again the tone is important, because it will give a feeling for how the new UK society will develop, and we will start to see lobbying for retention and dumping of various bits of EU-inspired regulations.

How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Show all 8 1 /8 How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Weetabix Chief executive of Weetabix Giles Turrell has warned that the price of one of the nation’s favourite breakfast are likely to go up this year by low-single digits in percentage terms. Reuters How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Nescafé The cost of a 100g jar of Nescafé Original at Sainsbury’s has gone up 40p from £2.75 to £3.15 – a 14 per cent rise—since the Brexit vote. PA How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Freddo When contacted by The Independent this month, a Mondelez spokesperson declined to discuss specific brands but confirmed that there would be "selective" price increases across its range despite the American multi-national confectionery giant reporting profits of $548m (£450m) in its last three-month financial period. Mondelez, which bought Cadbury in 2010, said rising commodity costs combined with the slump in the value of the pound had made its products more expensive to make. Cadbury How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Mr Kipling cakes Premier Foods, the maker of Mr Kipling and Bisto gravy, said that it was considering price rises on a case-by-case basis Reuters How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Walkers Crisps Walkers, owned by US giant PepsiCo, said "the weakened value of the pound" is affecting the import cost of some of its materials. A Walkers spokesman told the Press Association that a 32g standard bag was set to increase from 50p to 55p, and the larger grab bag from 75p to 80p. Getty How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Marmite Tesco removed Marmite and other Unilever household brand from its website last October, after the manufacturer tried to raise its prices by about 10 per cent owing to sterling’s slump. Tesco and Unilever resolved their argument, but the price of Marmite has increased in UK supermarkets with the grocer reporting a 250g jar of Marmite will now cost Morrisons’ customers £2.64 - an increase of 12.5 per cent. Rex How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Toblerone Toblerone came under fire in November after it increased the space between the distinctive triangles of its bars. Mondelez International, the company which makes the product, said the change was made due to price rises in recent months. Pixabay How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Maltesers Maltesers, billed as the “lighter way to enjoy chocolate”, have also shrunk in size. Mars, which owns the brand, has reduced its pouch weight by 15 per cent. Mars said rising costs mean it had to make the unenviable decision between increasing its prices or reducing the weight of its Malteser packs. iStockphoto

Finally, divorce happens between two parties. People in the UK, perhaps inevitably, have not paid much attention to what type of relationship the European public might want with the UK. What is important? Access to jobs in Britain? Ability to sell to the UK tariff-free? Easy entry to UK universities? I’d really like to know more about what European people, not their politicians, think.