This is everything that’s wrong with the Norway model for Brexit

I spoke to experts on the country’s relationship with the EU about whether the deal is a good option for the UK, and their answers were less encouraging than you’d think

Parliament has voted against leaving the EU with the Brexit deal we’ve negotiated. Parliament has voted against leaving the EU without a deal. Parliament has voted against having a second referendum. Parliament has voted against simply stopping Brexit by revoking Article 50.

Plenty of attention has been on the idea of a softer Brexit. Among these options: a Norway-type deal, branded “Common Market 2.0”. Norway, outside of the EU, nevertheless seems to thrive in Europe. Nigel Farage may deny it now but he used to be a passionate defender of the UK getting a Norway-style deal. That was before he got the result he wanted in 2016. But in the indicative votes process, our politicians weren’t scrutinising the options ahead of them properly. So we at Our Futre Our Choice decided to do it ourselves.

When we went to Oslo, we spoke to journalists, business leaders and politicians: all of them told us that the Norway deal, membership of the European Economic Area (EEA), is utterly essential to Norway’s economy. It gives them membership of the single market, meaning anything made legally in Norway is automatically legal to sell across the EU, and vice versa, because regulations are the same. That lowers prices for businesses, which in turn lowers prices for consumers. Agriculture and fisheries are excluded from that, but Norway still follows many of the regulations set by the EU in those areas in order to avoid costly border friction.