In the lead up to the EU Referendum in 2016, the Conservative government, at the behest of Prime Minister David Cameron, circulated a twenty-three-page leaflet to every household in the UK.

The leaflet, which reportedly cost taxpayers £9.4 million, mostly set out the case for remaining in the EU, including the many ills that would befall us if we voted to leave. But there were two solemn declarations in that leaflet.

First and foremost, the government undertook to implement the result of the referendum and, second, it declared this to be a once-in-a-generation opportunity to vote on the UK’s membership of the EU. That leaflet was a contract with the British people; a contract born out of democracy.

The Conservative Party’s manifesto in the 2017 election re-affirmed the Party’s commitment to the referendum result and stated unequivocally that “no-deal” would be better than a “bad deal”.

So far, so good. The Government had set out its aims and the parameters in which it would operate. It also apparently recognised the importance of keeping no-deal on the table. To maintain this position the Government had to make no-deal a credible option. The only way to do that would have been to prepare for it.