Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson addresses his supporters prior to boarding his General Election campaign trail bus in Manchester, England, Friday, Nov. 15, 2019. (AP Photo\/Frank Augstein, Pool, File)<\/small><\/p>\n
2026-06-21T11:18:15Z<\/p>\n
LONDON (AP) \u2014 Ten years ago, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union<\/a><\/span> in a referendum that forges political identities to this day and that shattered a half-century project to get closer to the continent.<\/p>\n Brexit, short for British exit, became a reality on June 23, 2016, when 52% \u2014 or more than 17 million people \u2014 voted to leave the EU. Though the margin was narrow, the vote led to the most dramatic shake-up of the U.K. economy and society since World War II. <\/p>\n But like any divorce, the paperwork and process of completing the breakup was not swift<\/a><\/span>: It took nearly five years.<\/p>\n Brexit was born out of a growing sense of frustration not only with the EU<\/a><\/span> but over the global financial crisis of 2008. Supporters were able to tap into that frustration, and argued that the U.K. on its own, would be revitalized and able to focus just on domestic priorities.<\/p>\n Opponents warned that Brexit would lead to an economic disruption and that it risked the country\u2019s standing in the world.<\/p>\n A decade on, here is where Brexit stands.<\/p>\n\n Backers of Brexit \u2014 commonly known as Brexiters \u2014 held out a vision that the British economy could thrive outside the EU by harnessing the buccaneering spirit that had once made it the world\u2019s biggest.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Though the COVID-19 pandemic and the wars in Ukraine and more recently, the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran<\/a><\/span> have not helped, it\u2019s clear that the British economy has not been revitalized<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n Merchants have complained about the hurdles that they now have to clear when trading with their European neighbors \u2014 the 27-nation EU remains by far the U.K.\u2019s biggest trading partner.<\/p>\nBrexit ushered in a harsh economic reality<\/h2>\n\n