The debate this week has revolved mainly around the customs union – or, if you prefer, a customs union, or a customs arrangement or even a customs partnership. What kind of relationship does the UK want with the EU after Brexit?

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With the next EU summit barely 30 working days away, things are heating up slightly as the moment approaches when Theresa May will finally have to make some of the tough choices she’s been putting off for the past 18 months or so. Though if past form is anything to go by, don’t hold your breath.

As the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has just gently reminded everyone, it really is make-your-mind-up time – and the Brexit “war cabinet” is meeting this week to supposedly do just that. Barnier’s opposite number, David Davis, insists Britain made its mind up ages ago and has been “perfectly clear” about what it wants. The problem is that what it wants doesn’t seem to be on offer.

So what is this customs union stuff all about? In an attempt to shine some light into the impenetrable Brexit fog, Jon Henley is joined on the line from Brussels by the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent Jennifer Rankin, and in the studio by our Brexit policy editor, Dan Roberts.

