Brexit’s potential is beginning to be realised

The purpose of Brexit was to strengthen Britain’s ties with both the world beyond Europe and with Europe itself, but in a more democratic way that carries popular support.

It was clear to Boris Johnson and to the Leave campaign that the EU ideal of free movement of people, an idea forged in the 1990s, had become difficult to reconcile with the reality of the contemporary world. High-skilled immigration made more sense than low-skilled, they thought, and a new system was needed to deal with 21st-century challenges while strengthening national cohesion.

Johnson’s critics, naturally, portrayed the supporters of Brexit as xenophobes and knuckle-draggers who were afraid of the modern world and sought to return the country to the 1950s. But the reverse was – and is – true. Most supporters of Brexit simply wanted the freedom to implement immigration policies suitable for the modern world. The vision that this magazine supported in both the 1975 and 2016 referendums was summed up by the words we used on our cover both times: ‘Out, and into the world.’ Two years on from Brexit, it seems right to ask whether it is working.

The first test is about restoring faith in democracy. Has Brexit succeeded in making voters feel more empowered? Leaving the EU, while painful, has certainly realigned mainstream political parties with public concerns. Today Britain is pretty much the only European country with no populist parties in parliament or with any serious support. There’s no British version of Marine Le Pen attracting 42 per cent of the vote.

Those who saw Brexit as a project of political reform – this reuniting of mainstream parties with voters in a way that would leave no room for populism – can claim success.