The secret Brexit files contain our future – they must be released | Abi Wilkinson
Brexit, we're regularly reminded, is the will of the people. We had a referendum and the result was clear. Question the wisdom of the decision and you show yourself to be anti-democratic and out of touch, a member of a cosseted, globalist elite that fails to understand the concerns of ordinary folk.
Never mind that 48% of voters represents rather a large "elite" by any normal measure. Nor that the people most enthusiastically pushing this line - among them Nigel Farage, Rupert Murdoch and several senior politicians - are themselves both privileged and powerful. The attack lands, in part, because it contains a kernel of truth. Prominent remainers sometimes have spoken about leave voters in sneering, snobbish terms. There really is an unwillingness among some affluent, metropolitan Europhiles to acknowledge that material factors contributed to the result. It doesn't seem to occur to them that showing contempt for mass democracy could have lasting social and political repercussions - potentially fuelling more extreme rightwing populism.
Related: Government refuses to release details of studies into economic impact of Brexit
A hard Brexit would take Britain out of the EU's single market and customs union and ends its obligations to respect the four freedoms, make big EU budget payments and accept the jurisdiction of the ECJ: what Brexiters mean by "taking back control" of Britain's borders, laws and money. It would mean a return of trade tariffs, depending on what (if any) FTA was agreed. See our full Brexit phrasebook.
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