A decade after Brexit, has Britain benefited?

It’s only been a decade, but June 23, 2016, is likely to go down as one of the most consequential days in Britain’s long history. It was the day the UK’s membership in the European Union was put to a definitive in-out vote that would fundamentally reshape the nation’s political, economic and diplomatic future. By a 52% to 48% margin and after a bitter campaign that left behind a polarised country, the British public opted to leave.

The referendum was called by then-Prime Minister David Cameron to settle a long-running debate within the Conservative Party, one that began when the UK joined the European Economic Community in 1973. Cameron framed the vote as necessary to end a “poisoning” of British politics. Instead, the shock result redivided the UK political landscape along completely new lines. In this mini-documentary, we show the price Britain has paid for that decision over the past decade — politically, socially and economically.

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The Brexit vote sparked a surge in populism and triggered years of parliamentary deadlock that crippled a series of prime ministers. Bloomberg Originals examines the factors that drove the Leave vote, and how it changed politics both in the UK and around the world. We also use Bloomberg Economics modelling to analyse its impact on the UK economy. The conventional wisdom has always been that Britain’s exit would be a financial calamity. We do the math to see whether that’s true.

Far from settling the issue for a generation, Brexit continues to loom large over British politics, with the matter of Britain’s relationship with the EU still high on the domestic agenda. Meanwhile, with the US under Donald Trump retreating from old alliances, Britain and its European allies are confronting their most challenging geopolitical moment since the end of the Cold War.

Indeed, since leaving the EU, successive UK prime ministers have sought closer alignment with Brussels. Some recent polling even suggests a growing majority of the British public would now vote to rejoin the bloc. Any attempts to do so would be met by fierce resistance, however, with one of the foremost architects of Brexit, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, now a favourite to become the country’s next prime minister.

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