Five years of Brexit: Is the United Kingdom better off?

euronews (in English)

Five years after the United Kingdom exited the European Union, polls suggest public opinion has reversed on the issue, with a majority of people now believing it was a mistake.

Transcript

00:00These are the last time Big Ben's bells rang inside the EU.

00:05On this day five years ago, at 11 p.m. London time,

00:10the United Kingdom officially left the bloc.

00:13The referendum in 2016 deeply divided the nation,

00:17with 52% to 48% in favor of leaving.

00:21Now, people and businesses are still wrestling with the economic aftershock.

00:26As forecast, Brexit has impacted negatively on the UK economy.

00:31Not precisely in the ways that was forecast,

00:34so services trade has held up pretty well,

00:36but goods trade has been affected, investment has been affected.

00:41Following Brexit, the UK left the European Single Market and Customs Union,

00:46which means goods cannot move without tariffs or quotas.

00:50This has brought in new red tape costs and delays for trading businesses.

00:55Britain's government forecast that UK exports and imports

00:58will both be around 15% lower in the long run than if it had remained in the EU,

01:04and economic productivity 4% less.

01:07It has cost us money.

01:09We're definitely slower and it's more expensive,

01:13but we've survived, we're still in business.

01:16Polls suggest UK public opinion has soared on Brexit,

01:20with a majority of people now thinking it was a mistake.

01:23The country's current prime minister, Keir Starmer,

01:26has said he wants to, quote, reset relations with the EU,

01:29but rejoining the bloc seems like a distant prospect.

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