BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.

Hello Brexit Castors, it's Adam here.

Just talking into my Hawaiian pizza delivery.

Don't be angry with me.

Anyway, we're going to do something a bit different on Brexit cast tonight.

I'll give you a quick update about what's been happening,

because it's been a big day, then you're going to listen to a vintage episode of the

podcast from June 2018. All will become clear in a minute or two. Okay, basically here's a situation.

The revised withdrawal agreement has pretty much been finalised on the EU side.

It's been sent to the UK for the government to approve it, but that seems like it's been held up because the

DUP, the Democratic Unionist Party, the government's Northern Irish allies, are objecting to the mechanism in there by which

the Stormant Assembly and by extension the people of Northern Ireland will give their consent

and renew their consent to the arrangements for Northern Ireland, the new alternative

backstop, although don't use the word backstop.

So that's one big hold up, which you never know by the time you listen to this may have gone, but it's quite a big one at the moment.

The other hold up is a really technical thing, which is still being discussed by the two negotiating teams, and it is the treatment

of Northern Ireland in the withdrawal agreement for VAT, value-added tax. Some people are saying how could this have become such a big

issue at the last minute how come people have only just realized it now? Well

smart people realized it ages ago.

Such as Chris Giles from the Financial Times,

who joined me and the other Chris for a discussion about this,

as I said, in June 2018, ages ago.

...