Brexit at 10: UK faces seventh PM as its political legacy deepens

London,UPDATED: Jun 23, 2026 13:26 IST

Ten years after Britain voted 52-48 per cent to leave the European Union, Brexit continues to shape the country’s politics, economy and public mood. The UK is set to get its seventh prime minister since the June 23, 2016 referendum, after Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Monday that he was stepping down after two years marked by a sluggish economy, malfunctioning government and a divided, weary electorate.

Though Brexit no longer dominates headlines, its effects still run through British public life. Chris Grey, an academic who has studied the fallout from Britain’s departure from the EU, said “the subterranean trace of Brexit” still runs through the country’s increasingly unruly politics.

Brexit campaigners had said leaving the then 28-member political and economic bloc would allow the UK to “take back control” of its laws, economy and borders. While the remain campaign largely stressed the economic risks of leaving, the leave campaign appealed more to emotion. “We can see the sunlit meadows beyond. I believe we would be mad not to take this once-in-a-lifetime chance to walk through that door,” Boris Johnson, a leading Brexit campaigner who later became prime minister, said a few weeks before the referendum.

Margaret MacMillan, emeritus professor of history at the University of Toronto, said Brexit was driven by several motives, including nostalgia “for an imagined past”. “It was against what people saw as unrestricted immigration. It was against what they saw as EU regulations. And then there was this mix of nostalgia — We fought alone in the Second World War.’ Which was of course not true. It was never clearly explained what Brexit might entail.”

The reality, however, proved far more difficult than the promises. Talks on Britain’s exit became bitter and dragged on for years. The UK formally left the EU on January 31, 2020, followed by an 11-month transition period before the final split. David Cameron, the Conservative prime minister who called the referendum but backed remaining in the bloc, resigned the next day after the result. His successor Theresa May quit in 2019 after failing to secure exit terms acceptable to a divided Parliament.

Johnson then took over, vowing to “get Brexit done”, and secured a basic trade deal after negotiations that left UK-EU ties deeply strained. He was forced out by the Conservative Party in mid-2022 amid growing financial and ethical scandals. Liz Truss replaced him but lasted only 49 days. Rishi Sunak, who followed her, improved relations with the EU without making major changes. Starmer later promised a “reset”, but ruled out rejoining the bloc’s frictionless single market, which had no tariffs or other trade barriers.

Historians and political observers say Brexit never settled Britain’s argument about Europe. Anthony Seldon said Cameron had hoped the referendum would end long-running Conservative Party divisions over Europe, but failed. “The people who obsessed about it still obsess about it. Britain’s problems have continued,” Seldon told Times Radio. During the exit talks, Conservatives who wanted a softer Brexit and closer EU ties were pushed out by the victorious Brexiteer wing. Labour, though much more pro-EU, has also remained split between those who want closer ties or even rejoining, and senior leaders such as Starmer who do not want to reopen old wounds.

A decade on, many voters have drifted away from the two main parties to alternatives such as the left-leaning Green Party and Nigel Farage’s hard-right Reform UK. Farage, who campaigned for Brexit and later argued that it had been betrayed, has emerged as perhaps its biggest political winner. His anti-immigration message has shifted from “Polish plumbers” to asylum seekers arriving in dinghies, and his party has consistently led opinion polls.

Britain’s economy has also struggled, with firms facing new barriers to trade with their closest neighbours, although Brexit is not the only reason for weak growth. The COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war and the Iran war also played a part. Hannah White, director of the Institute for Government think tank, said, “we just haven’t had politicians who’ve been upfront with the public about the fact that when they get into power, they won’t be able to have no increases in taxes, no increases in debt, and better public services all in the same breath. And so people are disappointed.”

Brexit also did not calm arguments over immigration. Net migration rose after Brexit to more than 900,000 in 2023 before dropping to 171,000 last year. Trust in politicians has fallen and cynicism has grown. In recent years, agitators have stirred anti-immigration street violence after crimes committed by, or falsely said to have been committed by, immigrants. Grey said Britain once had a clear barrier “between the conventional dominant politics of talk and argument, and what was seen as beyond the pale: violence on the streets”. “I think that boundary is being eroded. And I think that did to some large extent begin with Brexit.”

Recent polls suggest some “Bregret” over the 2016 decision. An Ipsos survey found that 52 per cent of people in the UK would like to rejoin the EU, while 33 per cent were opposed. On Saturday, hundreds of people carrying blue and yellow EU flags marched through London in a “rejoin” protest, though turnout was far smaller than at the height of the Brexit years. Even so, Brexit remains politically sensitive, and any path back to the EU would be long and difficult. As Britain prepares for yet another change of prime minister, Brexit remains unfinished business, with its political and economic legacy still hanging over the country.

With PTI Inputs

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