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David Davis, the Brexit secretary, pictured with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, is expected to publish a set of detailed proposals on customs arrangements this week. Photograph: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP

David Davis, the Brexit secretary, is expected to set out more clearly the governments hopes for a future customs deal with the European Union this week, to help inform the next round of Brexit negotiations.

With Theresa May not expected to return to her desk in Downing Street from her holiday until Thursday, the government is keen to show that preparations for Brexit have not ground to a halt.

The EU has made clear it will not discuss Britains future trading relationship including customs arrangements until it has reached agreement on several key issues, including the terms of the financial payments Britain will make on exit and the future status of the border in Northern Ireland.

But Mays spokesman said the government has concluded from the early Brexit talks that it cannot make more progress without a clearer sense of what the future relationship might look like.

Weve had the first round of the negotiation, and those talks have shown that many of the withdrawal questions can only be settled in the light of our future partnership, so now is the time to set out our approach to that partnership, to inform the upcoming negotiations, and to provide citizens and businesses at home and across Europe with a deeper understanding of our thinking.

Publishing the position paper is also aimed at sending a formal signal that at least one aspect of the bitter row within the cabinet about Britains future relationship with the EU has been resolved.

The chancellor, Philip Hammond, regarded by Conservative backbenchers as the champion of a soft Brexit, has signed up to a joint statement with Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, confirming that Britain would be outside the customs union during the post-Brexit transition phase and that at that point it would be a third country, not party to the EU treaties.

Fox was concerned that he would be unable to strike trade deals with countries outside the EU unless it was made clear that Britain did not expect to remain part of the customs union, whose members cannot strike individual trade agreements, and are expected to apply EU tariffs on imports.

Mays spokesman said: The prime minister set out in January in the Lancaster House speech the need for an implementation period, to avoid a cliff edge for business. The article by the chancellor and the international trade secretary made clear that that is the position of the government.

He added: The customs union as it currently stands has an impact on our ability to make trade deals.

Hammond appears to have conceded that remaining a member of the customs union is not possible, even as an interim arrangement while a detailed deal is finalised.

The Department for Exiting the European Union is also expected to publish a separate paper on Northern Ireland later in the week, which will inform the next round of talks as the border with the Republic of Ireland is one of the issues the EU wants resolved early.

After the last round of negotiations in Brussels last month, the EUs negotiator, Michel Barnier, expressed some frustration at the lack of detail from the British side particularly on the financial settlement.

He said: As soon as the UK is ready to clarify the nature of its commitments, we will be prepared to discuss this with the British negotiators This weeks experience has quite simply shown that we make better progress where our respective positions are clear.

Davis initially insisted Britain would like to negotiate a new trade deal alongside the exit terms, describing discussions over the phasing of the talks as the row of the summer and warning that signing up to a financial settlement early could disadvantage Britain later in the talks.

But when formal negotiations got under way in June, after the general election wiped out Mays comfortable governing majority, Britain quickly signed up to the EUs proposed timetable.

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Brexit: David Davis to set out hoped-for EU customs deal - The Guardian