June 23, 2016, 10 years ago: Voters in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland vote to leave the European Union in a national referendum. It was called "Brexit," short for "British Exit," in the leadup to the vote.
Britain had been a member of the European Communities since 1973, and of its successor, the European Union, since 1993. But many of its citizens were angry about the E.U. dictating economic policy, especially trade policy. And many (with considerable overlap with the previous group) were angry about the E.U.'s immigration laws, making Europe as a whole, and Britain in particular, more black, brown, and Muslim -- and less white and Christian.
Some voters admitted that they didn't really want to separate from the European Union, they just wanted to "send a message" to them. The message they intended to send was, "Respect us more." The message the EU received was, "We don't want you, so we're fucking off." The final vote was 17,410,742 for "Leave," and 16,141,241 for "Remain." Percentage-wise, that's 51.9 to 48.1.
As with American national elections, the city vote and the country vote were very different. In England, the vote was 53.4 Leave, 46.6 Remain. Most of the cities, including London, Liverpool and Manchester, voted to Remain. But the suburbs and the countryside vote to Leave. Wales was 52.5 Leave, 47.5 Remain. But Scotland was 62.0 to 38.0 Remain. Northern Ireland was 55.8 to 44.2 Remain, with the Catholic precincts being largely Remain, but its Protestant precincts were largely Leave. (The Republic of Ireland is an E.U. member, and has no desire to change that.)
The result? Within hours, Britain's financial markets crashed. In 48 hours, the pound lost 1/5th of its value, although, within the week, it recovered to the point where the loss was "only" 1/8th of its value. Prime Minister David Cameron, Leader of the Conservative Party, was forced to resign both posts on July 13, 2016.
His successor, Theresa May, didn't complete the Leave process fast enough for the "Brexit Means Brexit" crowd, and she was forced out of office on July 24, 2019, giving the job to Boris Johnson, Britain's 1st openly bigoted Prime Minister since Margaret Thatcher was forced out in 1990.
Soon, the people behind a recent failed referendum on Scottish independence began talking about a new referendum, on whether Scotland should leave the U.K. and rejoin the E.U.
On June 3, 2026, nearly 10 years after the referendum, a poll by Statista Research Department showed that 57 percent of British citizens thought Leave was a mistake, while only 30 percent thought it was right -- a net shift of 13 points. Statista called it "Bregret."
A YouGov poll showed that thinking Leave was a mistake was an opinion held by 56 percent of people in England, 61 percent in Wales, and 75 percent in Scotland.
It may just be that, by the time the Duke of Cambridge becomes King William V, he will reign over "The United Kingdom of England-but-not-London-or-Merseyside and East Belfast," a stagnant country, while London, Liverpool, Wales, Scotland and a united Ireland are in a thriving European Union. And those left behind will have not buyer's remorse, but seller's remorse.
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