When did Britain vote for Nigel Farage’s ‘real’ Brexit?

Jon Danzig | 4 February 2025

On 31 January 2025, the fifth anniversary of Britain leaving the EU, the Daily Express front page featured a message from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, claiming that a real Brexit had ‘not been delivered.’

He insisted:

‘We now need people in charge to deliver the Brexit we voted for’

The Daily Express added:

‘Nigel Farage has vowed to deliver the Brexit 17.4 million people voted for if he becomes Prime Minister.’

But what Brexit did 17.4 million people vote for? The referendum offered only two choices:

▪ Remain a member of the European Union

▪ Leave the European Union

We knew what Remain meant, having experienced it for over 40 years.

But what did Leave mean? It was never defined.

Even leading Brexiters couldn’t agree with each other what version of Brexit they wanted. Some, like former Tory MEP Daniel Hannan, argued that leaving the EU didn’t mean exiting the Single Market.

Others, like Jacob Rees-Mogg, acknowledged the need for a clear referendum question – something we never got.

In March 2016, three months before the vote, David Cameron’s Conservatives government outlined three possible Brexit models, all of which it warned would harm Britain. Which one did Leave voters choose?

1. THE NORWAY OPTION – Leaving the EU but retaining frictionless access to the Single Market. This meant following EU rules and allowing free movement, without a say in decision-making.

2. THE CANADA OPTION – Tariff-free trade with the EU but without the benefits of frictionless trade, severely restricting Britain’s services sector, which makes up nearly 80% of our economy.

3. THE WTO OPTION (or ‘no deal’, later rebranded by Boris Johnson as the ‘Australia Deal’) – Trading under World Trade Organisation rules, leading to tariffs, bureaucracy, and loss of EU membership benefits.

None of these options appeared on the referendum ballot paper.

The choice was between Remain or a deliberately vague Leave, making it easier to sell a dreamlike hazy vision of Brexit rather than a concrete, accountable plan.

If the Leave campaign had been forced to define its vision, would it have won?

Polls now consistently show that rather than demanding a version of Brexit no one voted for, the country increasingly regrets Brexit altogether.