On 23 June 2016, a majority of Britons voted to depart the Ecu Union following a referendum marketing campaign pushed via the guarantees of the Go away marketing campaign, led via Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson. Constructed across the slogan “Take Back Control”, the Brexit marketing campaign promised to revive the rustic’s sovereignty, regain regulate over migration flows and spice up financial prosperity. Ten years on, the hopes have given strategy to a sour sense of disillusionment in what the British name “Bregret”, a divided, weakened, upset nation about to mark the 10th anniversary of the referendum.
The surprise of Brexit
There are few occasions within the nationwide historical past of a rustic that constitute this kind of large and profound surprise as Brexit. The announcement of the consequences, which indicated a 51.9 p.c victory for the “Leave” camp, brought about shocks around the globe. After 43 years of an regularly turbulent and confrontational dating, the UK has made up our minds to depart the Ecu Union and open a brand new bankruptcy in its historical past.
The explanations for the surprise have been more than one: first, it was once an unparalleled tournament that raised many uncertainties and fears about the way forward for the UK and the Ecu Union; the surprise was once additionally defined via the totally sudden nature of the victory, for the reason that the primary polling institutes predicted shut elections, giving a slight merit to the “Remain” camp; in the long run, the Brexit vote represented a political and ideological victory for Nigel Farage, then chief of the far-right populist UK Independence Birthday party (UKIP), which was once fiercely adversarial to the Ecu Union, immigration and multiculturalism.
Nigel Farage right through a gathering in London, Might 20, 2026. Justin Tallis/AFP
Up to now regarded as extra of an intruder, Nigel Farage has since change into a central determine within the British political panorama, unanimously known as the primary architect of Brexit. His marketing campaign subject matters – which essentially revolved round combating immigration, restoring nationwide sovereignty and protecting British nationwide identification – have emerged as dominant subject matters within the nationwide debate. Boris Johnson, some other central determine within the Go away marketing campaign and long run High Minister (2019-2022), additionally contributed to the upward thrust of populist concepts via striking them on the very middle of the Conservative Birthday party.
Brexit thus normalized and offered a populist discourse, which for a very long time remained at the fringes of the general public sphere, contributing to an unparalleled dynamic for the a long way correct and a significant recomposition in British political existence. That is the nice irony of this referendum: at the start tabled via David Cameron in 2013 when he was once High Minister to give a boost to his authority over the Conservative Birthday party and prevent the upward thrust of UKIP, the referendum had the complete opposite impact.
No longer handiest did the Go away vote hasten Cameron’s downfall, however above all it contributed to primary political upheavals characterised via the erosion of the 2 conventional events, the huge upward thrust of the a long way correct and the polarization of the general public debate over immigration and nationwide identification. The referendum was once meant to calm and unite the rustic; to the contrary, it deeply destabilized and divided it.
A sour day after today: the disappointments of Brexit
A couple of hours after the announcement of the consequences and whilst there was once nonetheless euphoria amongst supporters of the “Leave” camp, the primary interview with Nigel Farage at the ITV Just right Morning Britain program brought about common astonishment. He informed two reporters that the promise to pay the volume of the contribution to the Ecu price range into the price range of the Nationwide Well being Carrier (NHS) – Britain’s public well being carrier – “probably will not be fulfilled”.
By means of ditching a key marketing campaign promise, Farage betrayed a dedication that weighed closely within the resolution of many citizens to vote for the Go away camp. The NHS, established after the 2nd Global Warfare to make sure that all Britons have common get entry to to well being care “from cradle to grave”, is an iconic pillar of the welfare state. On the other hand, more than one reforms to make it inexpensive and extra environment friendly have critically weakened it, and it now faces many issues, together with power underfunding, understaffing or excessively lengthy ready instances.
Acutely aware of the NHS’s position within the hearts of the British other folks, Go away campaigners have strongly promoted the argument that, within the tournament of an go out from the EU, cash up to now allotted to the EU price range can be channeled without delay into NHS investment. Boris Johnson crossing the rustic in his crimson bus with the slogan “We send the EU £350m a week, let’s fund our NHS instead” was once one of the vital emblematic pictures of the marketing campaign.
The mythical Vote Go away bus. Berkshire Bus Pics, CC BI-NC
This argument inevitably struck a chord with a big segment of the British voters, which was once involved in regards to the decline of this kind of nationwide establishment. Nigel Farage’s surprising U-turn felt like a significant betrayal and highlighted, from the primary hours after the vote, the distance between guarantees and truth.
Every other primary theme of the pro-Go away marketing campaign was once the battle towards immigration. And in this factor, the distance between guarantees and truth has resulted in deep resentment amongst electorate.
Nigel Farage has time and again stated for years that as a result of club within the Ecu Union, which advocates the primary of open borders and unfastened motion of other folks, Nice Britain has no capability to regulate its borders or save you mass immigration. A couple of days ahead of the referendum, Farage unveiled a marketing campaign poster titled ‘Tipping Level’ which displays a crowd of migrants from the Center East – solely males – collected on the Croatian-Serbian border as though able to “attack” Europe. The poster learn: “The EU has failed us all.”
The Tipping Level poster displayed via the UKIP celebration. Wikimedia
The Brexit victory has been analyzed partially as a triumph of darkish passions – concern of others, hostility against foreigners, resentment towards multiculturalism – and interpreted as an indication of a rising inward center of attention. However whilst the will of a lot of the Brexit voters was once to peer the rustic totally closed to foreigners, that was once a long way from the case. Certainly, even after the UK formally left the Ecu Union on 31 January 2020, immigration figures endured to upward thrust, achieving an absolute document in March 2023, with web migration coming near a million. For far of the general public opinion adversarial to immigration, those figures appeared that immigration was once out of regulate and that governments have been powerless within the face of migration flows, fueling anger and resentment against political elites.
Every other primary promise of the pro-Go away marketing campaign has failed. On this context, and if you happen to upload to it gradual financial expansion and rampant inflation, it’s not unexpected that the most recent polls display that almost all of Britons – round 56% – say they be apologetic about leaving the Ecu Union.
A damaged society
As Britons get ready to mark ten years for the reason that Brexit vote, emotions of be apologetic about, bitterness and betrayal succeed some of the public. Those sentiments gas monumental anger towards the political elites, leading to a lack of self belief in each conventional events and the unparalleled upward thrust of the far-right Reform UK celebration, led via Nigel Farage.
Brexit on my own isn’t responsible for all of Nice Britain’s woes: the well being disaster connected to the Covid-19 pandemic and the battle in Ukraine additionally partially give an explanation for the commercial issues the rustic is going through. On the other hand, Brexit has divided the inhabitants into two opposing – even adversarial – camps, which conflict over problems starting from immigration and ethnic and cultural range to the definition of nationwide identification. Those divisions created the prerequisites for the emergence of actual tradition wars, which proceed to divide British society a decade after the referendum.
