It is now less than a week until the 10th anniversary of the UK’s Brexit vote.

And it has been a difficult decade indeed.

Of course, the coronavirus pandemic heaped on huge woe globally.

However, we should not underestimate the enormous consequences of the vote for Brexit in the referendum on European Union membership on June 23, 2016.

And we must realise that the effect of Brexit is very much ongoing.

In this regard, a report published this week by the UK in a Changing Europe academic think tank contains much food for thought, not least in highlighting the gulf between the scale of the continuing Brexit damage and the maximum the Labour Government could possibly achieve in its attempts to limit future woe within its “red lines”.

These self-imposed red lines are, of course, Labour refusing to take the UK back into the EU, the European single market or even the customs union. And they were set out in Labour’s manifesto ahead of the July 2024 general election.

UK in a Changing Europe, which aims to provide impartial, research-based analysis of the UK's relationship with the EU and the many issues affecting and affected by it, highlights a “stark divide” between the economic impact of Brexit and the Government’s proposed response.

The think tank, based at King’s College London, sets out a “staircase” of options for the future relationship in its Ten years on: what next for UK-EU relations? report, published on Monday.

Joël Reland, research fellow at UK in a Changing Europe and one of the report’s authors, said: “There is no easy option when it comes to the EU relationship. Labour may be looking for a ‘halfway house’ which provides the perfect balance between economic benefits and........

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