Ten years ago the UK saw one of the most important political events in living memory as the country voted to leave the European Union. On June 23, 2016, the EU referendum resulted in a 52 to 48 per cent vote in favour of Brexit, leading to political, social and economic changes that we are still experiencing a decade later.The referendum has been particularly impactful in Stoke-on-Trent – dubbed the ‘Brexit capital of Britain due to the city’s 69.4 per cent Leave vote, one of the highest in the country. London’s political class, which had long overlooked the Potteries, suddenly became interested in ‘left behind’ places like North Staffordshire which had played such a key role in the referendum.Voters in Stoke-on-Trent, which had long been a Labour stronghold, shifted towards the Conservatives in both local and national elections, as ‘Get Brexit Done’ became a winning campaign slogan. And places such as Stoke-on-Trent became the focus of the government’s Levelling Up agenda, with the city securing £56 million of regeneration cash.While Stoke-on-Trent and much of Staffordshire later swung back to Labour, the political earthquake triggered 10 years ago is still continuing.Reform UK, which evolved out of the Brexit Party, has dominated local elections in Staffordshire since since last year, taking over Staffordshire County Council and Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council. And several local Tories, including former Stoke-on-Trent MP Jonathan Gullis, have switched to Nigel Farage’s party.Phil Catney, senior lecturer in politics at Keele University, believes these ruptures are continuing due to the politicians’ failure to tackle the underlying issues that led to the Brexit vote, such as inequality and economic changes over the last 50 years. He says that in some ways these problems have actually got worse as a result of Brexit.Dr Catney said: “We haven’t had honest conversations in Britain about why our economy is the way it is, why inequality is the way it is, why people have lower life chances if they live in a place like Stoke-on-Trent. And so when you don’t address those issues, or you don’t don’t talk about them properly, that’s when you leave yourself open to political projects that say, ‘Actually, it’s the migrants’ fault, or it’s the EU’s fault.’ “Populists see people’s grievances and they give them an easy answer on who to blame.”The EU had its problems, but there was no clear plan on what our economy would look like post-Brexit. The trade deals that have been signed aren’t anywhere near good enough to replace what we lost. Covid masked the impact, but we came out of the pandemic much more slowly than other countries.”And the promise was that after Brexit, migration would be managed. But that’s not what has happened.”On Monday, Keir Starmer became the sixth Prime Minister to be ousted in the decade since the referendum. Dr Catney believes his successor cannot afford to overlook the needs of Brexit-voting areas like the Potteries.He said: “The British state has never really had a very good regional policy to target de-industrialised places like Stoke-on-Trent. We have attracted some hi-tech industries into the city, but we’re not growing at the same rate as the superstar cities to our north and south, and people feel that.”If the government’s really want to try and deal with the issue, they should look at how they can equalise life chances, so you’re not disadvantaged too much by where you live.”Councillor Dan Jellyman, who leads the Reform group on Stoke-on-Trent City Council, was among the local politicians who defected to the party from the Conservatives. He backed the Leave campaign in 2016 and still believes it was the right decision for Stoke-on-Trent and the country as a whole, as it meant ‘having destiny in our own hands’.But he does not think that successive government’s have truly taken advantage of Britain’s departure from the EU. Cllr Jellyman said: “The first impact we saw was the vaccine roll-out, which was the fastest in the world. That was because we were freed from all the European regulations.”We saw the benefits of what we could do, but then we bottled it, and basically stopped. Both the Conservatives and Labour have failed to realise the benefits of being outside the EU.”In Stoke, our ceramics sector have had problems with high energy costs and cheap imports from the Far East. Coming out of the EU meant we were free from the rules over state support for companies, that say a government can’t favour their own manufacturing industry. We should also have imposed tariffs on imports from the Far East. But we haven’t done that, and ironically Europe has.”We’ve had a lack of vision, and a lack of leadership. We’ve now had six Prime Ministers since the referendum. All of them have failed on leadership.”For many voters, immigration was the key reason why they voted to leave the EU in 2016. But both legal migration and asylum have continued to be major issues since Brexit – small boat crossings increased exponentially after 2020, with more asylum seekers being dispersed to Stoke-on-Trent than most other areas.Cllr Jellyman blames ‘outdated’ human rights laws for successive government’s inability to tackle the small boats issues. But he also criticises Boris Johnson’s government for allowing legal migration to increase post-Brexit, which he sees as another example of the failure to grasp the opportunities of life outside the EU.Alec Sandiford, a Liberal Democrat councillor on Stafford Borough Council, backed Remain in the referendum, and believes that Brexit opened up a ‘Pandora’s box’ that has continued to dominate politics ever since. He does not think leaving the EU has benefited Staffordshire, and thinks it is wrong that politicians who pushed Brexit 10 years ago are still in the ascendancy.Cllr Sandiford said: “The question always frustrated me – do you want to leave, yes or no. It was a lot more complex than that. During the campaign there was a lot of exaggeration and lies, and a lot of division, that is still being used now by the likes of Farage and Reform. But it didn’t actually tackle the core issues of what people were upset about.”People in places like Stoke-on-Trent were told that it was certain people or the EU that were to blame for problems in their area, when really it was successive governments that let them down.”You look at businesses that are struggling with exports, and the hit to the economy. After 10 years, I don’t think we should have another referendum or rejoin, but we certainly need to have closer alignment with Europe.”Cllr Sandiford believes the increase in small boat crossings is a ‘direct consequence’ of the hard Brexit pushed by the likes of Mr Farage, and says those same politicians are now using the issue to ‘stoke up hate and division’. He added: “It just seems to have been a deliberate project to move us towards a more polarised, American-style politics.”
