Keep qualms and carry on: a decade after Brexit
The Intelligence from The Economist
The Economist
4.5 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 23 June 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On June 23rd 2016, Britain voted to leave the European Union, triggering years of argument, lost economic opportunities and political malaise. Our correspondents look back on the seismic moment and its aftershocks. And, as Britain prepares to get its seventh prime minister in a decade, we ask how the government can look forward to new opportunities.
Guests and host:
- Daniel Franklin, senior editor
- John Peet, associate editor
- Tom Carter, Britain economics correspondent
- Georgia Banjo, Britain correspondent
- Rosie Blau, co-host of “The intelligence”
- Jason Palmer, co-host of “The intelligence”
Topics covered:
- Brexit, European Union, EU
- David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Andy Burnham
- AI, defence
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the |
| 0:03.0 | Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. |
| 0:13.4 | I'm Rosie Bloor. |
| 0:14.7 | Today we're devoting our show to the moment 10 years ago that changed Britain. |
| 0:23.6 | Thank you. the moment 10 years ago that changed Britain. The total number of votes cast in favour of Remain was 16,141,241. |
| 0:36.6 | The total number of votes cast in favour of leave was 17,410,742. This means that the UK has voted to leave the European Union. |
| 0:56.4 | In the referendum of June the 23rd, 2016, Britain's voted for Brexit by 52% to 48. |
| 1:05.1 | Those who campaigned to leave the European Union promised a future free of external interference, |
| 1:12.2 | ripe with opportunity. |
| 1:17.6 | Those who wanted Britain to stay part of the EU, including us here at The Economist, |
| 1:20.4 | warned of disastrous economic damage. |
| 1:23.7 | Ten years on, how have those predictions fared? |
| 1:28.9 | And with the impact still very much being felt, and Britain about to get a new prime minister, where does the country go from here? |
| 1:32.7 | Helping me answer those questions is Daniel Franklin, one of our senior editors. |
| 1:37.1 | Hello, Daniel. |
| 1:38.3 | Hello, Rosie. |
| 1:40.4 | Daniel, it's already been a tumultuous week in British politics. |
| 1:44.1 | Does the fact that we're about to get our seventh Prime Minister in a decade have anything to do with how destabilising Brexit has been? |
| 1:52.4 | Well, it's ironic, isn't it, that Britain is in a way becoming more European. Here we are with our seventh Prime Minister about to come into office and we're sort of becoming Italy. And meanwhile, |
| 2:01.8 | Italy looks an oasis of stability. But seriously, I think it has a lot to do with the specifics |
| 2:08.4 | of Sakeir Stama. But it doesn't help that the legacy that Britain has had from 10 years of Brexit |
| 2:15.9 | has made governing Britain so much harder. And so to some |
... |
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