Quote Originally Posted by noel View Post
Presumably someone has done a poll on this? Along the lines of:
Q1: what did you vote in the referendum
Q2: do you favour a no-deal Brexit (or however you want to phrase it - possibly along the lines of no customs union, since as you rightly point out a deal not involving a customs union could have been developed)

I'd be very interested to see the results.
Referenda are binary. In/out, yes/no and it is then for the Executive to implement the results.

When we joined without a referendum in the early 70s the question was "do you think we should stay" with a Yes/No.

When the Scots, Welsh and NI had their devo vote it was a Yes/No.

With Scottish independence it was Yes/No.

It is then for the executive to deliver.

In the case of the devolved national powers and independence, those nations all have pro Independence/separatist parties.

So if the electorate do not like the settlement post referendum, they have the option to give the executive a further kick in the teeth.

It is often said that a 50% or more mandate for the SNP in an election would be sufficient to trigger and indi ref 2.

Contrast that with our membership of the EEC/EU. Any dissent to our membership could support Labour in the 80s.
But once Labour switched to a Pro EU party, even out EUing the Tories, there was no way for the electorate to express dissent, or even get a change of pace, or policy.

So we saw initially the formation of UKIP, then the referendum party formed by Goldsmith. Although UKIP was formed earlier, it only gained a foothold after Goldsmiths failed.
UKIP took votes off Labour and Tory culminating in them winning the 2014 EU election with 27%.

The public found a way to express an opinion and force the issue - it took well 10 years.

The referendum win for Leave in 2016 really was the end of UKIP.

At the 2017 GE 85% of the public voted for parties committed to a clean Brexit:
1. Leaving the single market
2. Leaving the Customs Union / committed to setting up new trade deals.

So if the established parties now stitch up an agreement to be in the SM and/or CU they will have gone back on their campaigns of only 18 months ago.

We will be back to square one in the early 90s, with a totally pro EU establishment, ignoring the direction they had been given, and no party where a vote can be cast to express one's dissatisfaction.

I sense if we had a GE and an option for "None of the Above" it would achieve a resounding victory.