Eoin Drea / Jul 2026
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Unfortunately since 2016 it has become fashionable in Brussels to write off Brexit as the ultimate example of British exceptionalism. A gratuitous act of self-immolation which resulted in an unprecedented decade of political instability and economic underperformance.
Rather than focussing on the underlying causes which drove the Brexit result – among them sluggish economic growth, the underestimated societal impacts of austerity and large-scale inward migration – Brussels chose the much more comfortable path of external projection.
The EU should have reflected on how its internal processes and policy principles may have contributed to Brexit. Alas, the EU just chose to view the vote as an expression of sovereignty by a member state with a long, troublesome record in expressing European affection.
This has resulted in Europe learning every wrong lesson from Brexit.
Because the reality is that Britain in 2016 was the canary in the coal mine that the EU wilfully chose to ignore.
Think about it.
In December 2015, in a major speech on EU reform, the then British Prime Minister – David Cameron – noted four key challenges then facing Europe and of unique importance to Britain.
Two of these – competitiveness and immigration – now dominate discussions in Brussels. Cameron’s plea to “write competitiveness into the DNA of the whole European Union” directly echoes the findings of the Draghi Report and the recent assertion of Commission President Von der Leyen that “competitiveness is not just the foundation of our prosperity but of our security, and ultimately of our democracies too”.
Unfortunately, the EU choose to ignore Britain’s competitiveness plea in 2015. The result was a European Commission mandate from 2019 to 2024 which actively increased the regulatory burden on European businesses. It took the outbreak of war in Ukraine, low growth, declining productivity and the Draghi report for the EU to finally realise the actual meaning of Cameron’s 2015 speech.
Similarly, Cameron’s practical view on immigration – “we believe in an open economy. But we’ve got to be able to cope with all the pressures that free movement can bring – on our schools, our hospitals and our public services” – was roundly dismissed as British xenophobia.
Yet, fast forward ten years and the British warnings on migration have become official EU policy. Belgium has just become the latest member state tightening the processes for EU citizens seeks work. More lengthy and expensive paths to citizenship, stricter removal processes and even return hubs for failed asylum seekers are all part of the EU’s recently agreed Migration Pact.
Nobody is scoffing at Britain’s failed Rwanda return hub project now. In fact, despite this costly failure, many states are seeking to improve and replicate it.
In other words, Brexit was not British exceptionalism or a wish in London to roll up the bridges on its links to Europe. Rather, it reflected the failure of multiple national and EU policies which – until that point – has assumed almost religious like reverence in Brussels.
From trade to migration, from free movement to economic growth – Europe’s distance from the real-world concerns of many communities played a key role in facilitating the Brexit process.
Until Europe learns that lesson, relations with London can never be fully whole.
