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The UK wants to secure a “political understanding” with the European Union by the end of July in order to give businesses time to prepare for the new relationship. David Frost, the Prime Minister’s chief trade negotiator with the bloc, will walk away from the talks if eurocrats still won’t compromise ahead of the autumn. British officials hope injecting urgency will stop Brussels from dragging its feet into the autumn after it was suggested EU leaders could sign off on a deal as late as October.

A source close to the negotiations said: “If we can’t do it in July, it’s not obvious we’ll be able to do it in September, October or November.”

The plan could involve a series of “high-level” meetings between Boris Johnson and EU leaders in order to break the deadlock.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to hold the first of these talks with the Commission’s Ursula von der Leyen and the Council’s Charles Michel in the coming weeks.

British sources are hopeful the top level interventions will forge a political agreement that then can be turned into draft free-trade agreement soon after.

UK officials want to resume face-to-face talks next month after being forced to negotiate via video link because of the coronavirus pandemic.

To limit the risk of an outbreak amongst the teams, small groups of officials would meet for short, intense discussions.

Penny Mordaunt today told MPs she is “confident” a deal can be struck between both sides.

The paymaster general said: “There is no point in us arriving at an agreement at the 11th hour. We have to arrive at agreement to enable it to be implemented, ratified, but also for our citizens and businesses to prepare.

“That is what is dictating the timetable here. That is why we must have renewed focus.

“We are talking to the EU about a change of format, about how we can increase the pace of negotiations, get the focus where we need it to be and get a deal done for both of our sakes.”

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The Cabinet Office minister and Michael Gove, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, will hold talks on Friday with their EU counterparts on the Joint Committee.

They will use the meeting to reinforce the Government’s decision not to extend the post-Brexit transition period.

Ms Mordaunt insisted the country would not be “barrelling off a cliff edge” if the Government decided to walk away from talks.

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She said businesses would be given time to prepare to do business with the EU on world trade terms.

“We’ve now reached an important moment for these talks,” she said.

“To make progress we need to accelerate and intensify our work and the Government is working closely with the EU to achieve that.”

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