I think there were quite a few Brexit voters who would have been happy to remain in the EEA. But that wasn't possible. Brexit voters will blame the EU, remainers will blame the UK govt, truth is it's probably a healthy dose of both. There was definitely a feeling that the EU wanted to deter other member states from leaving the EU, so allowing the UK to follow the Scandinavia model was probably not something they wanted, as it would be an appealing path forwards for others.