Explore Discussions

How has Brexit affected the UK government's decisions and the economy over the past ten years?

Brexit at 10: How has leaving the EU changed UK government? melissa.ittoo Tue, 16/06/2026 - 12:15 The IfG looks back on a decade since the UK left the EU. 5 Comment Jill Rutter Institute for Government Yes Brexit Civil service Public finances Public bodies International relations Parliament and the constitution Devolution Civil servants Trade Public spending General election Government reform Foreign affairs European Union No The result of the referendum immediately cost David Cameron the position of prime minister he had held for six years – having governed with a Conservative majority for one year, following five years of what in retrospect looks like remarkably stable coalition with the Liberal Democrats. That vote itself was called by Cameron in response to external pressure from Nigel Farage’s UKIP and internal pressure from the growing ranks of Conservative Eurosceptics. It ushered in a period of unprecedented political turbulence which has yet to end. David Cameron speaks outside Downing Street following his resignation as prime minister after the UK voted to leave the European Union in a referendum vote. Chaos descends on Westminster and Whitehall Cameron’s successor, Theresa May, could not find a Brexit compromise that both the EU and her party would accept, suffering a series of record-breaking Commons defeats along the way. The chaos broadcast weekly from the Palace of Westminster was matched in Whitehall, where ministerial churn went into overdrive with, unhelpfully, the newly minted Department for Exiting the EU particularly hit by policy-driven resignations. Theresa May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker address a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels. Ministers were drawn into conflict with the courts over their handling of Brexit, and relations with the devolved governments became ever more fractious, with SNP first minister Nicola Sturgeon using the breakdown to reopen the independence argument apparently “settled” in 20