The factors that have exacerbated Brexit

Written on 7 August, updated on 13 August 2026

In September 2025, I highlighted the economic pros and cons of Brexit:

“The medium-term outlook closely resembles that already seen with Brexit: since 2016, the pound has fallen by 12 per cent against the euro, and inflation in Britain has been 9 per cent higher than the Eurozone average.”

Inflation in Britain has taken a turn for the worse since Brexit. Or, to put it another way, the European Union has brought greater stability to prices (and therefore to incomes) in its member states.

The Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade has trained 10,000 new customs agents since 2020.

Meanwhile, the UK civil service has added nearly 95,000 extra jobs in the six years since Brexit, according to the Institute for Government, as the UK government has set up new departments to handle international trade talks and Brexit negotiations…

In addition to the growth of a stifling bureaucracy, Brexit – and policies aligned with those of the US – have enabled the development of innovative start-ups that the EU lacks …”

In some sectors – such as artificial intelligence and novel foods – the UK has begun to capitalise on its post-Brexit freedoms…

The UK was the largest destination in Europe for public investment in research into alternative proteins between 2020 and 2024, with €127 million, ahead of the next two largest, Denmark and the Netherlands…

The adoption of AI has also benefited somewhat from the UK’s departure from the EU’s strict regulatory regime. Both Meta and Apple introduced new AI features in the UK before rolling them out across Europe…

However,this picture was missing the social factors.

The first four tables form part of an analysis carried out by Bloomberg a few months ago and explain why, 10 years on, Brexit does not appear to be a success: leaving the EU has not led to greater equality within the country; it has slowed down the provision of healthcare services, worsened court proceedings and increased immigration from outside the EU, thereby exacerbating racial tensions.

Income inequality means income disparity

NHS waiting times: waiting times for the National Health Service

A disaster.

Open criminal caseload: criminal proceedings or cases still pending and being handled by a court or a judge.

Same as above.

Net migration to the UK: net migration to the UK.

Since Brexit, there has been exponential growth!

The percentage of the population born abroad in Great Britain is among the highest of all OECD countries

And Robert Harris, the well-known British writer, in this interview with *La Repubblica*, when asked “What do you miss about pre-Brexit Britain?”, replies:

“We had access to the European single market, and freedom of movement within the EU, which worked very well in a country like mine. Because we needed Europeans, including the famous ‘Polish plumbers’.

Now, however, we’ve driven the Europeans and Christians away, whilst hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Africa and Asia – Muslims, Sikhs and so on – have come in. Obviously, I’ve got nothing against them, but Farage does. Yet it’s he who has unleashed all this! …

There are more Indian doctors and nurses in Britain than Europeans: the graph shows the growth in arrivals in the UK and also how the influx of Europeans has come to a halt (source: Financial Times).

… “This is yet another demonstration of the failure of Brexit, which has brought misery to this country. If there were a referendum today, we would rejoin the EU. But it is now too late.”

Of course, the political instability mentioned in the interview has also played a key role in exacerbating the consequences of Brexit.