MPs clash over Brexit outcome 10 years after referendum
On the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum, MPs clashed over the outcome while campaigners reflected on its impact.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
On the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum, MPs clashed in Parliament over the outcome while campaigners reflected on its lasting impact. The 2016 vote saw the country split almost down the middle, and a decade later the debate remains unresolved.
One of the campaigns to leave the European Union was masterminded in Bristol. The woman who led that campaign said she has no regrets. "Personally, constitutionally, I feel that we're better off. I think we've got the right framework in place," she said. However, she acknowledged the financial impact is hard to assess: "Financially, I think it's really hard to assess that. I think if you go back to great economists, I think there are lots of statisticians that look at this and I don't think we know."
In 2016, Remainers felt confident in Bristol, bringing in former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown to lead the local campaign. Another former MP who was involved recalled public fears about uncontrolled immigration. "It was a factor. Immigration came up a lot in the one-to-one conversations I was having," he said. He noted that those fears have become even more stark since leaving the EU, because after Brexit immigration actually increased, with most coming from outside Europe.
The then Forest of Dean MP Mark Carper was in the government and supported Remain, but he accepted the result and worked to get Brexit done. Ten years on, he said assessing its impact is difficult because of subsequent events. "Straight after we left the European Union, we had a global pandemic. And then frankly, as soon as that was over, we had a war in Europe with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which had a massive economic shock on energy prices. So disentangling that, I think is very difficult."
The anniversary has shown that the debate over Brexit shows no sign of ending, with campaigners on both sides still divided over its legacy.
On screen
Stills are sampled automatically at 60-second intervals. Where shown, the still is the nearest available frame from the relevant broadcast segment and is included to show what was on screen during that part of the broadcast. A still may not correspond to the exact second of a quoted phrase.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | BBC One |
|---|---|
| After Brexit, immigration increased, with most immigrants coming from non-EU countries. | |
| The 2016 EU referendum resulted in a near-even split among voters. | |
| The impact of Brexit is difficult to assess due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
The coverage focused on local angles in the West of England, particularly Bristol and the Forest of Dean, using personal reflections from key campaigners to illustrate the ongoing division. The tone was neutral and reflective, giving voice to both Leave and Remain perspectives while highlighting the difficulty of assessing Brexit's impact due to subsequent global events.
- “Personally, constitutionally, I feel that we're better off. I think we've got the right framework in place.”
- “After Brexit, immigration actually rose dramatically, with most coming from further afield.”
- “Straight after we left the European Union, we had a global pandemic. And then frankly, as soon as that was over, we had a war in Europe with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which had a massive economic shock on energy prices.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.