Commentary: The British are cursed by their exaggerated self-importance

Commentary

A decade after Brexit, the liberty Britain voted for has come at a cost, says Max Hastings for Bloomberg Opinion.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson addresses his supporters prior to boarding his general election campaign trail bus in Manchester, England on Nov 15, 2019. (Photo: AP/Frank Augstein)

23 Jun 2026 05:59AM

LONDON: On Jun 24, 2016, following the narrow triumph of the Brexiters in the British national referendum on membership of the European Union, their standard-bearer Nigel Farage proclaimed “Independence Day… A victory for normal people.” Boris Johnson became prime minister in 2019 with the slogan “Get Brexit Done!”And so he did. A decade on from the vote, Britain is enjoying freedom as defined by the Brexiters, having cast off the bonds of EU membership. Yet liberty has come at a cost, a heavy one. It feels pretty lonely out here.If, as expected, the victor of Thursday’s (Jun 18) Makerfield by-election Andy Burnham becomes Britain’s prime minister, he will face the same intractable agenda: Britain languishes economically. We are living way beyond our means. Brexit has made a big contribution to our troubles, even if only the centrist Liberal Democrats, of the major political parties, fully admit this. Some economic analysts reckon Britain’s gross domestic product is 6 to 8 per cent below what it would have been had we stayed in Europe. Econofact estimates business investment at 12 per cent below its inside-the-EU potential, employment 3.5 per cent lower.