Five years after the United Kingdom exited the European Union, polls suggest public opinion has reversed on the issue, with a majority of people now believing it was a mistake.
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00:00These are the last time Big Ben's bells rang inside the EU.
00:05On this day five years ago, at 11 p.m. London time,
00:10the United Kingdom officially left the bloc.
00:13The referendum in 2016 deeply divided the nation,
00:17with 52% to 48% in favor of leaving.
00:21Now, people and businesses are still wrestling with the economic aftershock.
00:26As forecast, Brexit has impacted negatively on the UK economy.
00:31Not precisely in the ways that was forecast,
00:34so services trade has held up pretty well,
00:36but goods trade has been affected, investment has been affected.
00:41Following Brexit, the UK left the European Single Market and Customs Union,
00:46which means goods cannot move without tariffs or quotas.
00:50This has brought in new red tape costs and delays for trading businesses.
00:55Britain's government forecast that UK exports and imports
00:58will both be around 15% lower in the long run than if it had remained in the EU,
01:04and economic productivity 4% less.
01:07It has cost us money.
01:09We're definitely slower and it's more expensive,
01:13but we've survived, we're still in business.
01:16Polls suggest UK public opinion has soared on Brexit,
01:20with the majority of people now thinking it was a mistake.
01:23The country's current prime minister, Keir Starmer,
01:26has said he wants to, quote, reset relations with the EU,
01:29but rejoining the bloc seems like a distant project.