Brexit debate: If we can't stay in the single market let's at least have a customs union

If we're being frank, no one actually knew exactly what they were voting for during the Brexit referendum back in 2016. As a result, we find ourselves in the grip of an impossibly complicated discussion on what our exit from the European Union should actually look like. Two years too late, perhaps.

For some Brexiteers, Brexit should mean a clean break with the Customs Union. Anything other than this would be, in the words of International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, 'a complete sell out'. The argument goes that we don't need contributions from Brussels or the free movement of people within EU borders. In exchange, we'd be able to negotiate our own free trade deals with non-EU Countries.

According to Jeremy Corbyn and plenty of Tory 'Remainers', a soft Brexit is the way forward. This would mean leaving the Single Market, but staying within a Customs Union, avoiding the border checks and tariffs – specifically with regard to Northern Ireland – and maintaining free-flowing trade. Supposedly this could be done without committing to free movement payments or the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.

Some will sit in the Nick Clegg camp and argue that we need another referendum to test whether the public still want Brexit, especially now that they could be offered a clearer idea of what it will actually look like. Unlike in 2016...

Join spokespeople from all sides of the debate for a hair-raising discussion about the future of our country. The panel includes Stella Creasy, the Labour and Co-operative MP for Walthamstow, and Paul Mason, an award-winning writer and film-maker whose latest book is titled Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future. They're joined by: Iain Martin, a former editor of The Scotsman and a former senior executive at the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph; Julian Jessop, the Chief Economist and Head of the Brexit Unit at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), which is the UK’s leading free-market think tank; and Vernon Bogdanor CBE, who is Professor of Government at the Institute of Contemporary British History, King’s College, London.