Immigration, trade and the economy were all key issues during the Brexit campaign. Here are some figures illustrating how each has evolved since the seismic vote.
Immigration
Free movement of people within the EU was a totemic issue for millions of voters, who wanted to reduce the number of people coming to the UK.
Between 2012 and 2016, EU nationals made up between 74% and 81% of the UK’s total net migration, which regularly exceeded 200,000 per year, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
At that time, net migration from non-EU countries remained comparatively modest, ranging from 61,000 to 90,000 annually.
Following the 2016 referendum however, that trend changed dramatically — and not in the direction hoped for by Brexit supporters.
Net migration from the EU declined steadily, falling from 253,000 in 2016 to 70,000 in 2020.
But the numbers from non-EU countries rose from 90,000 in 2016 to 186,000 in 2019, before falling to 101,000 in the pandemic-hit 2020.
That divergence became even more pronounced from 2021, as the new immigration rules took effect.
Net migration from non-EU countries peaked at over one million in 2023, as net migration from the EU hit negative numbers — which is to say more EU nationals left the UK than arrived.
So while overall net migration declined from its peak of 972,000 in 2022 to 308,000 in 2025, the underlying pattern remained unchanged.
Now however, the migrants coming in were from non-EU countries.
The EU nationals’ exodus
Polish nationals were the largest driver of the EU nationals’ exodus from the UK.
Net inflows of Polish nationals peaked at more than 100,000 in 2014 before turning into substantial net outflows by the early 2020s, according to the ONS — although a change in the way statistics were collected after 2020 also influenced comparisons.
Many were drawn back to the booming economy back home, but the pandemic also appeared to have an effect.
Migration from Romania also weakened sharply, from a peak of 90,000 in 2016 to negative net migration by 2023.
Smaller but persistent reversals among Lithuanians, Portuguese and Spaniards, French and Italians all reinforced the downward trend.
Economy
While Brexit’s advocates had insisted it would have little overall effect on the UK economy, its opponents said leaving the shared market would trigger a crisis.
Raw GDP numbers published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) suggest that the UK performed broadly in line with other advanced economies in the years immediately following the 2016 referendum.
Since the early 2020s however, it has increasingly lagged behind the United States and Canada.
The UK fared slightly worse than the EU immediately after the vote, and was hit harder than its European neighbours during the pandemic.
The initial rebound was stronger. UK GDP growth was higher than in the EU immediately after it left the single market in 2021, but fell slightly behind Europe in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
A BBC report on Friday said the UK economy had taken a 6% hit from Brexit, according to analysis of internal Bank of England data.
Also read: Timeline of events in Britain’s exit from the European Union
Trade
While supporters of leaving the EU single market argued that it would free the UK to do more trade with the rest of the world, opponents said it was a recipe for disaster.
Goods exports to the EU fell from 205 billion pounds in 2016, adjusted for inflation (chained volume measures), to 185 billion pounds in 2025, despite a brief post-pandemic rebound.
Over the same period, goods imports from the EU declined only modestly, widening the UK’s goods trade deficit with its largest trading partner from 113 billion pounds to almost 140 billion pounds, according to ONS data.
Non-EU goods exports were around 204 billion pounds in 2025, similar to the 2016 level, failing to plug the gap.
However, rapid growth in services exports–from 357 billion pounds in 2016 to 519 billion pounds in 2025 — has helped lift total UK global exports from 765 billion pounds to 908 billion pounds over the same period.
Imports have increased at a faster rate though, meaning the UK’s global trade deficit was around 65 billion pounds in 2025, 3 billion pounds more than in 2016.
