Sunday marked the eighth anniversary of the 2016 EU referendum when the UK voted to leave.
Nearly a decade on, many people in the media and politics debate the benefits and the disadvantages of leaving the EU.
We looked into reports from political expert Matt Goodwin and social commentator Gully Foyle as well as documents from the UK government's Department for Business and Trade to find the top ten benefits of Brexit for Britain.
Boris Johnson was one of the key figureheads for Vote Leave
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1. EU Migration Pact
Brexit means that Britain avoids the EU migration pact, a recently passed policy meaning EU member states are required to take their share of the total asylum seekers that arrive within the bloc each year. The UK's share would have been over 120,000 people. If the UK had bought their way out of the obligation it would have cost the UK taxpayer €2.5 billion.
2. EU Budget contributions
The UK was responsible for around 12.5 per cent of the annual core budget of the EU which was €189 billion in 2024. That means the UK's contribution would have been over €24 billion seeing as the budget would have been even higher if the UK was still a member.
3. Protection of borders and citizens
The rules around Freedom of Movement required the UK to permit entry into the country for known criminals from fellow EU countries. In 2023, the UK turned away 12,000 EU citizens who may have been allowed to enter if we had not left the EU.
The UK was able to provide quicker and more robust support for Ukraine
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4. Quicker support for Ukraine
The UK was able to supply quicker and more robust support for Ukraine as they did not need to gather consensus opinion first with other EU member states. Polish Foreign Affairs Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, said the UK "has found a niche … You do the right thing before others and therefore encourage the rest of us.”
5. Better standards in Animal Welfare
EU Single Market rules previously prevented the UK from being able to make a number of improvements to animal welfare rules over the years. Since leaving, the UK has banned live shipments of animals for slaughter and clamped down on the trade of shark finning as well as proposing to ban the sale of all Foie Gras.
6. Increasing UK exports across the globe
The UK was the fifth biggest exporter in the world in 2022, up from sixth in 2021. It achieved £870 billion exports in the 12 months to November 2023.
Leaving the EU meant the UK banned live shipments of animals for slaughter and clamped down on the trade of shark finning
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7. Reducing VAT
In March 2022, it was announced that VAT would be reduced to zero on green energy purchases such as solar panels and heat pumps. Women's sanitary products also had VAT removed from them in 2021. A member state could not independently implement VAT policies like this from within the EU.
8. Revoking unnecessary port regulations
The UK has revoked the EU's Port Services Regulation which was designed for the EU's publicly owned ports and were not suitable for the UK economy.
9. Changes to UK defence
Changed to UK defence procurement rules have allowed the Royal Navy to develop the new DragonFire laser weaponry. The weaponry is expected to be in use in 2027, five years earlier than expected as the full package of changes was not possible from inside the EU.
10. Improvements in salaries
Those at the lower end of salaried workers in the UK have seen improvements in salary and working conditions from tightening available resources with the removal of Freedom of Movement. This is because employers were forced to pay higher wages for low-skilled roles previously filled by Europeans.