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Hello and welcome to The Spectator podcast. I'm Isabel Hardman. This week, Brexit negotiations grind to halt again as Brussels and the UK draw mutually exclusive red lines on the Irish border problem. I talk to James Forsyth and Dan Hannan on What Next for Brexit. We also look a little deeper into the methods and mission of Bellingat, the investigators

that unveiled the true identities of the Salisbury suspects. And last, we investigate a sex

industry that is trying to become more ethical. First, Brexit negotiations have hit a brick

wall again and this time no deal looks closer than ever before.

The latest snag over the Irish border seems impossible to solve.

But all this is an EU strategy to divide and conquer, argues James Forsyth in this week's cover piece.

Brussels has used Ireland to carve up the UK and back it into a corner.

James joins me now along with Dan Hannon, Tory MEP and leading Brexiteer.

So James, for listeners who haven't been following Brexit closely,

can you explain how it is that we have got to this position?

Well, we're in an impasse because before you can get out of the EU,

you need a withdrawal agreement.

A European Union has said they want three particular things covered off in that withdrawal agreement. They want the money. The UK is going to pay on leaving, which is pretty much settled. They want citizens' rights dealt with, which again is basically done. And then there's this issue of the Irish border. Now, the UK say, how can we know what we need to do on the Irish border to keep the Irish border as it is today after Brexit if we don't know what the trade relationship is between the EU and the UK.

The EU say, tough, we've got to settle this now. You've got to commit to certain things. And the UK government is deeply uncomfortable with that. And what it's particularly

uncomfortable with is something that it signed up to in December, which the EU has then

interpreted quite heavily in a way the UK government doesn't like, which is to essentially

say if the future trading relationship between the UK and the EU is divergent, then Norman

Ireland would essentially stay in the customs union and

carry on following EU rules, despite the fact it's part of the UK.

Theresa May says, I can't accept that because it's dividing up the UK.

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