Brexit’s enduring economic damage was defined more by persistent policy uncertainty than by direct trade barriers, though the referendum’s promise of restored sovereignty remains deeply contested. While Leave supporters framed the vote as a democratic reclamation, the economic reality resulted in long-term investment stagnation and a complex, uneven regional decline that hit smaller exporters hardest — all while Britain’s departure preceded a global shift toward protectionist blocs, leaving the country’s causal role in the broader trend debated.

The evidence suggests Brexit functioned as a slow, compounding drag on the economy rather than an immediate catastrophe, and proponents of "rejoin" currently lack a viable path that avoids significant loss of sovereign control. I recommend skipping this video; while a dense and informative scan of the aftermath, the provided summary covers the core causal findings and debunks the major myths regarding Britain’s economic performance.