Is Brexit a Man or a Horse?

The problem with Brexit is that it has never been clearly defined.

The messaging put out by the official Vote Leave campaign during the referendum reassured voters that we would still be in “a free trade zone stretching from Iceland to the Russian border” after Brexit. This is the European Economic Area, membership of it has also been referred to as the ‘Norway option’. Nigel Farage repeatedly praised this option during the referendum. He has now moved on to arguing that only ‘no deal’ Brexit – which the Vote Leave messaging ruled out – is a valid form of Brexit.

Theresa May reached an agreement with the EU for the UK to leave. Boris Johnson described this as “an appalling sell out”. Prominent Brexit-supporting MPs such as Liam Fox and Chris Grayling apparently disagreed, voting for May’s deal from the first vote.

Boris Johnson later reached a different agreement with the EU. Nigel Farage called this “the second worst deal in history and it’s still not worth voting for”. DUP leader Arlene Foster says that Johnson’s deal would take Northern Ireland in the “wrong direction”.

Which versions of Brexit are valid, and which aren’t? Are the Brexiteers who voted or campaigned against different versions of Brexit subverting the will of the people? Is there only one valid version of Brexit? Are there multiple valid versions?

In 1998 Northern Ireland held a referendum on whether to sign up to the Good Friday Agreement. Earlier this year, the Republic of Ireland held a referendum on changes to abortion law. But both were votes on legislation that had already been worked out – they were confirmatory referendums on specific things, not open-ended like the 2016 Brexit referendum.