Brexit supporters still defend leave vote a decade after referendum
Pro-Brexit figures say Britain regained sovereignty, while blaming governments for failing to use powers gained outside the EU.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
3 min read
Ten years after Britain voted to leave the European Union, some of the campaign’s supporters still say the decision was right, despite polls cited by Al Jazeera showing most Britons now regret Brexit. Their defence matters because the same issues that drove the 2016 vote — sovereignty, immigration and economic control — remain central to British politics.
Robert Tombs, a University of Cambridge professor and Brexit supporter, told Al Jazeera that the core case for leaving has changed little since the referendum. He said Brexit was about restoring democratic authority and giving Britain more power over its own laws and borders.
Britain voted by a narrow margin in June 2016 to leave the EU after more than 43 years in the bloc, according to Al Jazeera. The country formally exited on January 31, 2020, after years of argument in Parliament and within the governing Conservative Party over what form Brexit should take.
Control remains the central claim
Al Jazeera reported that control was the defining promise of the Leave campaign, especially on migration and sovereignty. Brexit supporters framed the EU as a distant authority and argued that decisions affecting Britain should be made in Britain.
Tombs told Al Jazeera that Britain had long been uneasy inside the EU and had stronger historical and political links with countries beyond Europe, including English-speaking states. He also said other EU members, including Greece and Italy, have shown signs of dissatisfaction with the bloc.
Immigration has been the sharpest test of the Leave campaign’s promises. Al Jazeera reported that Nigel Farage, then leading UKIP, faced criticism during the 2016 campaign for a poster showing Syrian refugees near the Croatia-Slovenia border under the phrase “Breaking Point.”
Migration did not fall after Brexit. David Goodhart, head of demography, immigration and integration at the right-leaning Policy Exchange think tank, told Al Jazeera that Britain did recover the power to set immigration policy but then chose to expand entry.
Al Jazeera reported that net migration rose from about 224,000 in 2019 to more than 600,000 in 2022 and 906,000 in 2023, an increase of 302 percent. Right-wing critics called the post-Brexit rise the “Boriswave,” referring to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Supporters blame governments, not Brexit
Goodhart told Al Jazeera that Johnson promised to complete Brexit but mishandled the moment. He said years spent disputing the type of Brexit Britain wanted left the country poorly prepared for life outside the EU.
Goodhart also said voters who felt ignored before the referendum do not feel more represented now. He linked current public anxiety to the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and domestic political instability, according to Al Jazeera.
Brexit supporters interviewed by Al Jazeera argued that the direst warnings from the Remain side did not happen. Al Jazeera reported that forecasts before and after the vote included an immediate recession, severe job losses, an exodus from financial services and constitutional turmoil in Britain and Europe.
Goodhart told Al Jazeera that Brexit has had less economic impact than its fiercest critics predicted, while pointing to wider weakness in global economies. He said Britain’s freedom from EU rules had helped in fields such as fintech and gene editing.
Kristian Niemietz, editorial director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, told Al Jazeera that free-market supporters of Brexit expected more liberalisation after leaving the EU. He said Britain has signed trade deals it could not have made as an EU member and made limited regulatory changes, including on gene editing, but has moved too cautiously to offset Brexit-related disruption.
Tombs told Al Jazeera that Britain’s referendum set it apart from other European countries. He cited a recent television appearance by French President Emmanuel Macron in which, according to Tombs, Macron acknowledged that French voters might choose to leave the EU if offered a vote.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.