For farmers, it was a legitimate position to want us out of CAP, but not out of the Internal Market.
So EFTA might have had some overall advantages.
Those farmers who wanted us out of the Internal Market as well as the Common Agricultural Policy were, frankly, stupidly ignorant of the repercussions.
The thing is, Brexit wasn't defined.
If the Brexit campaigners had defined Brexit with a plan that was clear, careful and well thought out, one that proposed moving in stages to disentangle the rules, supply chains and customer bases that had been on a steady path of integration for 45 years, one that took the logical first step of leaving the EU, but joining EFTA for a few years. If the Brexit campaigners had done this, then we would not have had Remainers feeling so resentful that the referendum was won on a great deception. We would have accepted that legitimate, equal choices had been put to the electorate, debated fairly and would have accepted the decision with grace.
If, after offering this plan to an electorate who therefore based their vote on it, the post referendum governments had reneged on it and took us out of the Single Market altogether, put a border in the Irish Sea, left Erasmus, Euratom, Horizon 2020, Gallileo, with no ready alternatives in place, then Remainers ire would be directed almost entirely at that government and not at those who had voted for Brexit. I say almost entirely, because it would still be legitimate to ask why people who voted for inveterate liars like Johnson and Gove expected them to keep their word.
The thing is, such a plan was not on offer. Such a plan existed, but it was in fact rejected by Cummings and co., deliberately, in favour of no plan.
So if you voted Leave in the hope of Flexcit/EFTA you were rolling a dice, one weighted against you, for small reward, but big negative outcomes.
This is a combination of a lot of ignorance, poor analysis, a flawed decision making process and some very bad maths.
That said, it should be taken for granted that the people advocating a certain course of action, a huge decision, actually knew what they were talking about and had a well thought out plan to execute the decision. In that respect I have some sympathy for Leave voters. However, they were repeatedly, for four years, asked what that plan was, were tested on background knowledge, questioned on consequences and were found always wanting. Those Leave voters unable to take a step back and listen to these questions and the avoidance of answers and not say hang on a minute, maybe we should pause, see the deal and double check with the people this is what they want, they are responsible just as much as the Brexit conmen who preyed on their ignorance and emotion.
I'm not defending anything. Damaging my own livelihood? Yeah there are only two things to blame for that, Tories and lockdowns. None of which I voted for unlike some.
