Over the past few years, the terms “transition period” and “implementation period” have come to specifically describe this two year period post-Brexit during which the UK temporarily stays in the single market and customs union. That period would be used to negotiate the future trade relationship with the EU.

But this two year “implementation period” only happens if the UK and EU agree a withdrawal deal before 29 March 2019—something that won’t have happened in a no deal scenario.

Brexit is already a complex topic; that’s probably not helped by politicians using terms that have commonly understood meanings in an imprecise or ambiguous way.