Brexit only means Brexit

Was Brexit a vote against globalisation?

Half of the Britons who voted in the referendum voted for Brexit. The campaign focused on putting 'us' first. Take back control, take back our money, take back our jobs, our schools, our doctor's surgeries. Sure sounds anti-global.

The other half voted to keep the advantages of EU membership: trade, travel, security. Definitely pro-global.

However, the other promise made by the lead Brexiteers was to free the UK from the shackles of the EU, allowing us once again to trade globally. So pro-global. The Remainers were happy to stick with the local club and its trade barriers which hold back the rest of the world - definitely anti-global.

Maybe it wasn't globalisation - was it really a vote against capitalism?

The majority of Britons view capitalism as "greedy, selfish and corrupt". This is in a country still growing (albeit slowly), where unemployment is near zero, where luxuries unimagined only a few decades ago are available to everyone.

However, this is also the country where house prices are now an average of 7.6 times annual income - double the multiple 20 years ago - making home owning an unattainable dream for young people. Where living standards have fallen for the past decade. Where many more students graduate, but they graduate with loans of up to £57,000. Where zero-hour contracts and part-time work is becoming the new normal, allowing companies to skimp on pensions and benefits. A country where pensioners have their "defined benefits" pensions together with the state pension's triple-lock. Pensions paid out of the taxes of young people who won't have anything nearly as good when they retire.

Yet, the younger the voter the more likely they were to vote Remain.

The truth is that each voter had their own reasons. From protest votes to deeply held beliefs. Economics, politics, tribalism, idealism. Sovereignty, immigration, growth, trade, the NHS.

A cross in a box does not define anyone, does not define their beliefs cookie-cutter style, no matter that the Brexit headbangers claim a vote for Brexit is a vote for no deal. The vote was in favour of leaving, not self-immolation.

Our elected representatives, including the most extreme of hard-line Brexiteers, have a duty to do their best for this country, to do their best for us. Right now that means standing behind Mrs May, it means speaking with one voice to the EU, it means agreeing - yes, compromising - on a plan.

Brexit only means Brexit. Let's try for the best Brexit we can.