Quote Originally Posted by noel View Post
That's an interesting point CL. And I agree on one level it was clear - leave or remain.

I was saying it has caused division among those who voted to leave and among those who are trying to implement it, since there are different interpretations regarding how much people want to leave - just a bit, or completely.
I don't really think there is that division among people who actually voted Leave. The motto of the Leave campaign was "Take Back Control" and they talked about taking it in terms of laws, borders and money. The only way to achieve that is to leave both the Single Market and the Customs Union. At various parts of the campaign it was also expressly stated by both sides that this is what leaving would mean. So anybody who voted Leave and watched any part of the campaign could be under no illusions that this is what would happen.

The fact that it hasn't is mainly because (as CL said) the negotiations have been handled overwhelmingly by Remainers. As for divisions about different types of Brexit e.g. Norway plus (Single Market & Customs Union), the advocates of these softer options never voted Leave in the first place and they want to remain as close to the EU as possible.

Personally I think it would be better if we had negotiated a free trade deal with the EU. But given that we haven't the only logical approach in order to honour the result of the referendum is to leave without a deal and trade on WTO terms.