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.’