Brexit, ten years on

Can you believe it’s been ten years since Brexit? In some ways it feels more recent, in others it’s as though we’ve been hearing about it from our British and European friends for a long time. I bring it up here because I’ve recently noticed an odd shift in the discussion. Pundits and commentators are concluding that the Leave and Remain campaigns were just as irrational and confused as each other a decade ago, and that lack of a positive outcome for either side is the reason for the UK’s current economic and political malaise. I don’t mean to call out Patrick Boyle specifically, but he summarises this sentiment: What actually happened was worse than Leave promised, and a good deal milder than Remain threatened, which is the least satisfying result for everyone involved, and the reason that the argument has never really ended. Brexit has been a disaster in ways that took years to show up. But it means that the question was always going to be more complicated than either camp was…

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