The gains from Brexit - Ten years on

Following the Brexit referendum ten years ago, and the UK’s departure from the EU five years ago, there are advantages that have already had meaningful real-world impact and the mainly long-term opportunities that could grow over time.

We had independent vaccine approval and medicines regulation, whose impact levels were high and immediate. The UK’s medicines regulator (MHRA) was able to approve COVID-19 vaccines quickly using its own emergency authorization process.

It enabled the UK to became one of the first countries in the world to approve and deploy vaccines. This helped the UK begin mass vaccination early, and it demonstrated regulatory independence and speed.

The broader ongoing impact is that the UK can now design faster approval pathways for new medicines and treatments, and this helps attract pharmaceutical investment and clinical trials.

It enabled new trade agreements and allowed us to join the CPTPP. The impact level has been moderate so far, but growing over time. The UK has been able to sign trade agreements independently and joined CPTPP in 2024.

There are real effects already, in that UK companies now have improved access to Asia-Pacific markets including Japan, Canada, Australia, Vietnam, and others.

The CPTPP covers around 15% of global GDP, bringing immediate benefits to financial services, manufacturing exporters, and food and drink exporters.

The full economic effects will grow gradually over many years.

The UK now has the freedom to redesign its immigration system. It introduced a points-based system that treats EU and non-EU applicants equally. This has resulted in increased recruitment from countries such as India, Australia, and Canada. There has been a significant increase in skilled worker visas, with greater ability to target sectors experiencing shortages, such as healthcare, tech, and engineering. It gives the government more direct control over labour supply.

A further gain has been flexibility in financial regulation. The impact level has been moderate but strategically important. London remains one of the world’s largest financial centres, and the UK can now tailor financial rules independently. This has enabled reform of listing rules to attract more companies to list in London, changes to insurance regulations to encourage investment, and adjustments to banking rules to improve competitiveness.

This strengthens London’s global financial position. This has brought advantages mainly representing long-term opportunities. The full benefits may take years or decades to fully materialise, but they will come.

With full legislative sovereignty, the UK can now completely control its own legal and regulatory framework. The potential long-term benefits enable faster adoption of new technologies such as AI, biotech and fintech. We can now simplify regulations to encourage business. We have greater flexibility in economic policy, giving permanent institutional independence.

We have been able to plan our strategic global trade position. The UK can prioritise relationships with faster-growing economies outside Europe. The potential major growth regions include Asia-Pacific, India, the Middle East and Africa. We’ve just signed a big trade deal with the Gulf States. All these regions are expected to grow faster than Europe in coming decades.

We had secured agricultural and fisheries independence until Keir Starmer signed it away until 2038. It is likely that the next government will withdraw from that treaty, however.

The long-term advantages of national self-control will include tailored environmental programmes, more direct national control over fishing rights, and the ability to redesign rural development support. These changes will take time to reshape industries, but they will do that.

Budget autonomy and domestic spending control will have long-term and structural impact because the UK government now has full control over how funds previously sent to the EU are used domestically. This gives flexibility in funding infrastructure, science and technology, regional development and healthcare. The advantage here is flexibility rather than immediate visible change.

The UK now can alter its VAT rates on an ad hoc basis. The Great British Summer Savings will bring summer reductions down from 20% to 5% on items that qualify. This would not have previously been possible.

The new EU rule banning sachets of ketchup and mustard in restaurants and bars from August 12th will not have to be applied in the UK because we are no longer members. The same applies to other pointless regulations.

Already clearly visible advantages are thus independent vaccine and medicines approval, an independent immigration system, financial regulatory flexibility, and new trade agreements beginning to operate. In the longer term we can now use our full legal sovereignty, an independent global trade strategy, long-term regulatory flexibility, and strategic positioning outside the EU framework.

There have been advantages already, but the future will bring many more.

Madsen Pirie