On 23 June 2016 voters in the United Kingdom were asked a question that only looked simple: remain in the European Union or leave it. Leave won, with 51.9% of the vote. That day began the biggest political and economic transformation of the country since the Second World War, Brexit, which ten years on still divides Britons and Europeans. This special explains how it came about, what happened next, which effects can be measured today and, above all, what it means in practice for anyone who wants to visit, study or work in the United Kingdom.
Why the United Kingdom voted to leave
Britain's relationship with a united Europe has always been complicated. The country joined the European Economic Community only in 1973, after two French vetoes, and as early as 1975 held a first referendum on membership, won by "yes" with 67%. In the following years it secured discounts on the EU budget (the famous rebate won by Margaret Thatcher in 1984), stayed out of the euro and the Schengen area and always viewed every step towards political union with suspicion.
In 2013 Conservative prime minister David Cameron, under pressure from the Eurosceptic wing of his party and from the rise of Nigel Farage's UKIP, promised a referendum if he won the next election. He won in 2015, negotiated some concessions with Brussels and called the vote, convinced he would win it. The Leave campaign, led by Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, focused on three themes: control of immigration (after the 2004 enlargement hundreds of thousands of Eastern Europeans had arrived), the sovereignty of Parliament and the contribution to the EU budget, with the famous slogan about £350 million a week to be spent on the NHS instead, a figure challenged by the statistics authority.
The result revealed a country divided by place, age and education. England outside London and Wales voted to leave; Scotland, Northern Ireland, London and the big university cities voted to remain. Remain won clearly among under-25s, Leave among over-65s. We look at the vote in detail on the page about the 2016 referendum.
From the vote to the divorce: four and a half years of negotiations
Cameron resigned the day after the referendum. He was succeeded by Theresa May, who on 29 March 2017 triggered Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, starting a two-year countdown. Negotiations stalled above all on one point: how to avoid the return of a physical border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, removed by the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. May's deal was rejected three times by Parliament, the exit date was postponed several times and the prime minister resigned in 2019.
Boris Johnson renegotiated the Northern Ireland protocol, won the snap election of December 2019 with the slogan Get Brexit Done and took the country out of the Union at 11pm on 31 January 2020. A transition period followed, in which nothing changed in practice, until 31 December 2020. On Christmas Eve the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) was concluded; since 1 January 2021 it has governed relations: no tariffs or quotas on goods of British or EU origin, but departure from the single market and the customs union, with checks, certificates and border formalities. The full chronology is on the page Brexit, all the dates.
What really changed
To understand Brexit it helps to separate what has changed since 2021 from what has stayed the same.
Gone are freedom of movement, the right of Europeans and Britons to live and work freely in each other's countries, automatic recognition of many professional qualifications, passporting for financial services, participation in Erasmus, legally guaranteed free roaming and British access to the European Health Insurance Card in its previous form (replaced by the GHIC, which works in a similar way).
Still in place are tariff-free trade for goods that meet the rules of origin, cooperation on security and transport, the Common Travel Area between the UK and Ireland (which lets British and Irish citizens move freely between the two islands) and the rights of EU citizens already resident before 2021, protected by the withdrawal agreement through the EU Settlement Scheme: about 5.8 million people, including several hundred thousand Italians, have been granted resident status.
The effects on the economy
Measuring the effect of Brexit is not simple, because the pandemic, the 2022 energy crisis and inflation all followed hard on its heels. Economists therefore use a counterfactual comparison: how the UK would have fared had it stayed in the Union. The estimates agree on a significant cost. The Office for Budget Responsibility, the independent body that produces forecasts for the Treasury, calculates that in the long run productivity will be 4% lower and trade intensity 15% lower. Academic studies and independent think tanks estimate that GDP is today between 4% and 8% lower than it would have been inside the EU.
The most visible blow is to trade. A Centre for European Reform study published for the tenth anniversary, in June 2026, estimates that goods exports to the Union are about 16% below the level they would have reached without Brexit, and imports about 14% below. So far there has been no compensation from the rest of the world: the trade deals signed with Australia, New Zealand, the Asia-Pacific bloc (CPTPP) and India are worth fractions of a percentage point of GDP. Small businesses have suffered most, as customs and sanitary paperwork is a fixed cost they often cannot bear. More on the pages about the economy and trade.
Migration: the paradox of control
Controlling immigration was at the heart of the Leave campaign. The outcome was unexpected: with the end of free movement, arrivals from the EU collapsed, and since 2022 net migration with European countries has been negative, as more EU citizens leave than arrive. But the new points-based system, open to skilled workers, care workers, nurses and students from all over the world, pushed up arrivals from countries such as India, Nigeria, Pakistan and China. Net migration reached a record 944,000 in the year to March 2023, nearly three times pre-Brexit levels, before restrictions introduced from 2024 brought it down to 171,000 in 2025. Details on the page Brexit and immigration.
Northern Ireland, the knot never untied
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land border with the Union. To avoid rebuilding a border on the island, the 2020 protocol kept the region in the single market for goods, moving checks to the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The solution angered unionists, who felt cut off from the rest of the country, and paralysed the devolved government at Stormont for two years. The 2023 Windsor Framework eased checks with a system of green and red "lanes", and in 2024 the Northern Ireland government returned with, for the first time, a republican first minister, Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill. More in Brexit and Northern Ireland.
Seven prime ministers in ten years
Brexit consumed a generation of leaders. David Cameron resigned the morning after the vote he had called; Theresa May (2016-2019) fell over the withdrawal agreement; Boris Johnson (2019-2022) completed the exit but was brought down by scandals; Liz Truss lasted 49 days in 2022, after a budget that sent sterling tumbling; Rishi Sunak (2022-2024) signed the Windsor Framework and lost the election; Keir Starmer (2024-2026) began the rapprochement with the Union; Andy Burnham, former mayor of Manchester, has been in Downing Street since 20 July 2026. None of them has proposed rejoining, but the tone towards Europe has changed profoundly.
The "reset" with Europe
After years of tension, the Labour government elected in July 2024 began a rapprochement with Brussels, without reopening the question of membership. The first EU-UK summit, in London on 19 May 2025, produced a security and defence partnership, a commitment to negotiate a sanitary and phytosanitary agreement to reduce checks on food and farm products, the linking of emissions markets, an extension of EU fishing access to British waters until 2038 and the opening of talks on a youth mobility scheme. In April 2026 the agreement for the UK's return to Erasmus+ from 2027 was signed.
With Andy Burnham in Downing Street the line has not changed. The second summit, due in Brussels on 20 November 2026, is expected to close the package on the veterinary agreement, emissions and the youth scheme. Rejoining the customs union or the single market is ruled out by the government for now, although the debate has reopened.
What Britons think today
Ten years after the referendum, public opinion has shifted. According to YouGov polls in June 2026, only about 30% of respondents think leaving the Union was the right decision, while a majority see it as a mistake and more than half would like to return to some closer form of relationship with Europe. The change is driven mainly by generational turnover and by a negative view of the economic effects; two thirds of those who voted Leave, however, still stand by their choice, and a new referendum is not on the horizon. More in what Britons think.
What changes for travellers, students and workers
For European visitors the effects are real but manageable:
- Document: since 1 October 2021 national identity cards are no longer valid for entering the UK; you need a passport (holders of settled or pre-settled status are an exception).
- ETA: since 2025 European citizens must obtain an online Electronic Travel Authorisation, the ETA, which since 8 April 2026 has cost £20 (previously £16), is valid for two years and is required for children too. Since 25 February 2026 travellers without one cannot board.
- Roaming: many European operators apply specific rates or bundles for the UK, which is no longer covered by EU rules.
- Healthcare: the European Health Insurance Card still covers necessary treatment during a temporary stay, under the 2020 agreement.
- Shopping: sending goods to the UK or buying online from British shops may involve duties, VAT and customs fees.
- Study and work: stays of more than six months require a visa and payment of the annual health surcharge; EU students pay international fees. Erasmus returns in 2027, and if the youth scheme goes ahead young people will be able to live and work in the country for a limited period.
All the details on the pages travelling to the UK after Brexit and studying and working after Brexit, and in our guide to documents and the ETA.
The pages of this special
- Brexit, all the dates: from 1973 to the 2026 summit.
- The 2016 referendum: who voted how and why.
- The effects on the economy: GDP, investment, prices and sterling.
- Trade and customs: what changed for businesses.
- Brexit and immigration: the points-based system and EU citizens.
- Brexit and Northern Ireland: the protocol and the Windsor Framework.
- Travelling after Brexit: passport, ETA, customs, roaming.
- Studying and working after Brexit: visas, fees, Erasmus.
- What Britons think today: polls and the rejoin debate.