[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by roughbeast

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Farage famously told us how happy and prosperous the people of Norway were as members of the EEA, with no need to contribute to the EU regional development fund or the CAP and with a say over the rules that affected them. He lulled waverers, who feared for the economy, into believing that Brexit could be that benign. The Remain campaign could not carry out such a deception because everyone felt that they knew what Remain meant, given that we were already in the EU. It meant the status quo.

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Before giving my opinion (for what it's worth) on the un-snipped part of your post, I'd just like to take you up on the selected paragraph and sentence.

The so-called "status quo" was the big issue. With the EU, there is no "status quo". Each successive Commission President has vowed to extend the Commission's competences (or at least try to do that). In the case of VdL, she set her sights on competence over foreign policy. Bit by bit, the EU is trying to federalise - and where would that have left the EU? Sure, they'd want our money, so we'd be on the outside, perhaps with a few other nations. Obviously I can see a path where the UK's veto could prevent all this, but could I guarantee that our PM would exercise such a veto? Indeed, I'm convinced that Cameron was pro-Remain because he wanted to stay at the European top table - the big man. Add to that the supremacy of the ECR, the supporters of Leave had no doubt as to how they should vote.

The EEA possibility had merit in trade terms though less so in terms taking rules from the EU. You're right, this and other Leave alternatives were not proposed in the Referendum. But the complexity of such a referendum, and the series of referendums that the method would spawn could only lead to a Remain decision, imo.

Has Cameron & co been smart enough, the might have been able to engineer this. But public opinion could have erupted, egged on by an ever more popular Farage (a great man, btw) - so a binary referendum it was.

It now falls to business to forge ahead.