Brexit was a vote against Blairism

Tony Blair thinks he has discovered a form of words that could lead to the reversal of the EU referendum result. When the vote was taken voters did not know the exact terms of our departure. When they become clear, people might change their minds.

The mistake in this line of spin is that the vote to leave was taken whatever the terms might be. It was said time and again during the campaign that the worst outcome – trading with the EU under the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) – would be just fine. In fact, there were many who saw this outcome as the ideal to aim for. It is, after all, the framework for trade between the vast majority of the world’s nations.

It would mean paying tariffs on our exports to the EU according to the common external tariff, and we in in our turn would be able to charge the same tariffs on imports from the EU.