Respecting the Referendum Result: What Brexit Satisfies the Democratic Will of the People?

As the date for the UK’s departure from the European Union draws near, the panel will reflect on how the reality of the Brexit negotiations has compared to the rhetoric of the referendum campaign. Are the difficulties Theresa May’s government has had in negotiating a satisfactory withdrawal agreement with the European Union an inevitable consequence of a mandate to deliver a narrowly, or ill-defined, concept? Or could more have been done to achieve a consensus over what Brexit means much sooner after the referendum?

Given the diverse reasons people voted to leave the EU, and the range of interpretations offered by politicians as to what ‘the people’ voted for in June 2016, are there any agreed tenets of Brexit that could guide the UK government in enacting the ‘democratic will of the people’? And as Brexiteers reflect on the last two and a half years of public and political discourse, how has the reality of Brexit tallied with the hopes and expectations of leavers during the referendum campaign?