Brexit: Success or Failure?

This chapter starts from the assumption that the road back to Europe, if such exists, will not be an easy one in the absence of widespread perceptions that Brexit has been a failure. On this basis, it considers Brexit’s consequences for the economy and in the areas of food supplies, health and the environment, the labour market, education and travel and tourism. It first attempts to contextualise the discussion by providing an overview of British economic performance in the years leading up to 2016 and comparing it with performance since then. In the concluding section, it attempts to marshal the evidence discussed to that point to provide a summary assessment in response to the question of whether Brexit has been a success or a failure.