Gisela Stuart is still doing the same thing that she did during the referendum campaign (HERE) which is to convince people about things that weren't true. She says Vote Leave was "clear" we would leave the single market but as her fellow Brexiteer and former campaign director, Dominic Cummings has said several times (HERE) the Vote Leave campaign was not the government and it was up to the government to define the plan for leaving the EU. They specifically rejected any plan on the grounds that it would have created "insuperable" problems trying to get everybody behind a single strategy.
They wanted (and got) the freedom in the campaign to argue for anything, in any way they liked to any audience at any time. So, we had Daniel Hannan telling us (HERE) that "absolutely nobody is talking about threatening our place in the single market" to reassure those who were concerned about the economic consequences while campaigning alongside the slogan to take back control of our money, our laws and our border. The very slogan Stuart now uses in her article to justify coming out of the SM and the CU.
Trying to be all things to all men may have won the referendum narrowly but it will ultimately lose them the Brexit they crave.
And Ms Stuart should try reading the one thousand page tome written by Matthew Elliot CEO of Vote Leave who, far from ruling out the Norway option, said this on page 232 (HERE) under the title: There are a number of ‘special deals’ that the UK could apply for:
The UK could apply for EEA membership (the ‘Norway Option’)
One of the best known options for Britain outside the EU involves it reapplying for membership of the European Economic Area (EEA) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The EEA was established in 1994 and its members include Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and the 28 member states of the European Union. Membership excludes the Common Agricultural Policy and Common Fisheries Policy, the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the Common Trade Policy (i.e. FTAs with third parties), Justice and Home Affairs issues, and Economic and Monetary Union. It does include the Four Freedoms, but does not generate membership of the EU’s Customs Union. One of the more attractive features of the EEA option is that members are free to develop trade deals with the rest of the world. EFTA’s own track record in reaching FTAs suggests that it is operating a gear higher than the EU machinery.
This does seem clear - not to leave the single market but to "apply for EEA membership".
Slippery lot these leavers aren't they?
