Support our non-partisan non-profit newsroom 💜 Donate now

What’s going wrong with post-Brexit Britain?

Jun 7, 2023
Brexit supporters blame the Conservative government for failing to exploit the benefits of leaving the European Union.
In a photo from 2017, the EU and UK flags wave outside Parliament in London. A recent survey finds that British majorities believe successive Conservative governments have mismanaged Brexit and that the initiative was a mistake.
Jack Taylor/Getty Images

A UK regulator has blocked the Microsoft-Activision merger. But don't blame it on Brexit.

Apr 26, 2023
Some experts say the decision is rooted in the U.K.'s efforts to develop its own tech industry.
The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority said a merger of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard would hamper innovation and reduce choice for gamers.
Belinda Jiao/Getty Images

Years after Brexit, a London honey shop looks beyond Europe for sources

Apr 18, 2023
Samantha Wallace of From Field and Flower considers changing her supplier network in response to changes in trade regulations and rising costs.
Beekeepers at one of Samantha Wallace's suppliers in Sweden.
Courtesy Wallace

Is Brexit to blame for Britain's mess?

Nov 9, 2022
Some critics of the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union say the country’s recent turmoil should drive it back into the bloc.
Anti-Brexit demonstrators march in London on Oct. 22.
Hollie Adams/Getty Images

Even a London honey stall is caught up in Britain's historically high inflation

Jul 5, 2022
"It's a bit like pushing a boulder up a hill," says London store owner Samantha Wallace.
Bees at an apiary in Italy. "We've actually just had to, for the first time, raise our Italian honey prices," said Samantha Wallace.
Macro Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images

UK's cost-of-living crisis breathes new life into old battle over Brexit

Jul 4, 2022
Britain’s high inflation is fueling demands that it consider rejoining the European Union.
Niklas Halle'n/AFP via Getty Images

Soaring UK inflation tops 9%, fuels labor unrest

Jun 23, 2022
The Ukraine war and the impacts of the pandemic sparked a global spike in prices. Britain is grappling with the domestic consequences.
Workers marched through London last weekend, demanding pay raises to match inflation.
Stephen Beard/Marketplace

For public good, not for profit.

U.K. weighs whether to restore its old system of imperial measurements

Jun 15, 2022
The prime minister pledged to make the use of pounds and ounces official again after Brexit. We checked sentiment at Shrewsbury Market.
In the imperial measurement system, an inch is based on the length of three grains of barley.
Reimphoto/Getty Images

Why the U.K. is threatening to tear up part of its Brexit treaty with the European Union

May 27, 2022
The British move to change unilaterally part of its withdrawal deal with the EU could trigger a trade war with the bloc.
The Brexit grace period is over for most nonfood products arriving in Northern Ireland from the British mainland, and a wide swathe of goods already has been squeezed out of the Northern Ireland market.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Trump-era export tariffs are still rattling British steelmakers

Jan 19, 2022
President Biden lifted a 25% tariff from European Union steel, but British steelmakers complain that they’re being unfairly penalized.
Then-President Donald Trump poses with the 2018 steel import proclamation, which added a 25% tariff on imported steel. President Joe Biden has lifted the tariff for countries in the European Union but not for the United Kingdom.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images