Ten Years On: The Brexit Salesmen Are Still Selling

25 June 2026 | Rob Fellows

Ten years ago this week, Britain voted to leave the European Union.

The campaign was presented as a choice between liberation and decline. We were promised more money for public services, stronger borders, greater prosperity and a restoration of sovereignty that would unleash the country’s potential. The future, we were told, would be brighter, richer and more secure.

A decade later, it is difficult to look around Britain and conclude that those promises have been fulfilled.

The economic evidence is increasingly difficult to ignore. Independent studies consistently suggest that Brexit has reduced trade, dampened investment and weakened economic growth. Businesses face additional barriers when exporting to our largest market. Labour shortages have emerged in sectors ranging from agriculture to hospitality and social care. The country has endured years of sluggish growth while our European neighbours have largely moved on.

The result is not merely an abstract debate about GDP. It is reflected in the everyday reality of life in modern Britain. Lower growth means less money available for public services. It means fewer opportunities for young people. It means households feeling poorer than they otherwise would have been.

The tragedy is that none of this should come as a surprise. Many economists, business leaders and international organisations warned that leaving the world’s largest trading bloc would carry significant costs. They were dismissed as members of “Project Fear”. The public were assured that Britain would enjoy all the benefits of membership with none of the obligations.

That fantasy was always too good to be true.

Yet what is perhaps most remarkable is not that the promises failed to materialise. It is that many of the people who made them remain centre stage in British politics

The same political entrepreneurs who sold Brexit as a miracle cure are now selling a new set of easy answers. Different branding, different slogans, but the same business model. Complex problems are reduced to simplistic explanations. Difficult trade-offs are ignored. Experts are mocked. Outsiders are blamed. The promise remains the same: trust us, there is a simple solution.

Today many of those voices have found a home in Reform UK and similar movements. They present themselves as insurgents challenging a failed political establishment. Yet many of them were architects of one of the most consequential political decisions of modern times. Far from accepting responsibility, they simply move on to the next grievance, the next slogan and the next target.

What concerns me most is not the politicians themselves. Political opportunists have always existed.

What concerns me is how many people remain willing to believe them.

A decade after Brexit, with the evidence all around us, there is still a market for easy answers and convenient scapegoats. There are still voters prepared to accept promises without asking for a credible plan. There are still people willing to believe that Britain’s challenges can be solved by blaming foreigners, international institutions or imagined enemies.

The irony is that many of the communities most persuaded by Brexit’s promises have paid the highest price. The towns that were told they had been forgotten remain forgotten. The regions promised renewal still wait for it. The prosperity that was supposed to follow has yet to arrive.

Ten years on, Brexit should serve as a lesson in the dangers of political snake oil. It should remind us that patriotism is not measured by the volume of our slogans but by our willingness to confront reality. Loving your country means wanting it to succeed, not pretending that obvious failures are actually triumphs.

Britain remains a remarkable country. We possess world-class universities, innovative businesses, talented people and immense cultural influence. Our future can still be bright.

But that future will not be built on nostalgia, grievance or false promises.

Ten years after Brexit, perhaps the most important question is not whether leaving the European Union was the right decision. History has already begun to answer that.

The real question is whether we have learned enough to avoid being sold the same fantasy all over again.