Ten years on from the biggest vote in recent history, GB News explores why Brexit remains one of the most contentious issues in British politics
When Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016, millions of Brexiteers believed the country had delivered its verdict.
In a shock to the political establishment, 17.4 million Britons voted to cut ties with the European Union, ending an almost 50-year relationship which had morphed from an economic entanglement to a full-blown political partnership.
But the margin of victory, albeit only 1.3 million votes, failed to unite the nation, leaving the country just as divided on one of the biggest constitutional questions 10 years on from referendum day.
For Brexiteers, June 23, 2016, marked "Independence Day", with the UK finally being freed from the shackles of the continental club.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who was once dubbed "Mr Brexit" by Donald Trump, declared the decision the "greatest moment in the modern history of our great nation".
However, Remainers-turned-Rejoiners see the vote rather differently, warning Britain's economic and diplomatic standing has taken an almighty hit.
GB News has spent the week exploring the fightback against efforts to rejoin the EU and what is needed to deliver what the public voted for at the ballot box.
Amid a wave of Remainers warning Brexit has left the UK worse off, Brexiteers have responded by defending the decision taken.
Ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson marked the moment by sending a direct message to GB News viewers.
Mr Johnson, who admitted to agonising about his decision to publicly back Vote Leave, said: "It was 10 years ago that the people of this country voted to leave the EU in the biggest-ever expression of support for any proposition or Government in our democratic history.
"There were 17.4 million who voted Leave – including millions of readers and viewers of GB News. You were totally right!"
Despite being a keen advocate of a second referendum, Sir Keir Starmer stood on a manifesto pledge to remain outside the single market and customs union.
However, in a final roll of the dice after losing the local elections, the Prime Minister doubled down on his push for a "reset" with Brussels.
Sir Keir said: "This Labour Government will be defined by rebuilding our relationship with Europe, by putting Britain at the heart of Europe."
The comments fuelled renewed criticism from Brexit-supporting MPs and commentators who argue Labour is drifting away from the 2016 result.
David Campbell Bannerman, former Member of the European Parliament, told GB News: "Starmer was throwing Red Wall Labour MPs under a bus. People rightly see the Reset as a betrayal of Brexit.
"It is designed to try to re-enter the EU sneakily – like in a game of Grandma’s footsteps."
He added: "Millions of Labour voters believe in Brexit but not their party representatives, who are obsessed with having the EU rule us. It is the London and wealthy-dominated Labour Party core who were Remainers and now want to rejoin the EU."
The row has persisted throughout Sir Keir's soon-to-be-ending premiership and is expected to dominate headlines as one-time Rejoin EU advocate Andy Burnham looks set to take the reins.
Speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool last year, the now-newly elected Makerfield MP said: "Long-term, I’m going to be honest, I want to rejoin it. I hope in my lifetime I see this country rejoin the European Union."
However, Mr Burnham was accused of flip-flopping on Europe while campaigning in his Leave-voting seat after insisting he would not "re-run" Brexit arguments.
Despite Mr Burnham now being able to call on the support of ex-Health Secretary Wes Streeting, the Ilford North MP also harbours ambitions for the UK to "one day" return to the Brussels bloc.
The pair will need to contend with Labour MPs who find themselves representing heavily Brexit-backing seats, including Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.
But Labour's potential pivot is fuelling concerns among veteran Eurosceptics ahead of the 2029 general election.
Lord Elliott, who served as chief executive of the Vote Leave campaign, told GB News: "Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting have both spoken about rejoining, so it looks like the Labour leadership will be much more in line with rejoining, just like the Lib Dems, Greens, Plaid and SNP are.
“But it is also clear where the right is, where Reform UK and the Conservatives are, in the sense that both of them want to talk about making more of the Brexit powers, which is great."
While the parliamentary paralysis after the 2016 referendum primarily focused on Tory infighting, the new dividing line on Europe now appears to centre on the Labour Party's complicated electoral landscape.
Labour's traditional heartlands, often referred to as the Red Wall, voted for Brexit while a majority of Labour MPs issued dire warnings about leaving the Brussels bloc.
Recent election data showed that wards with high Leave support (55 per cent or higher) saw a 47-point increase in Reform UK vote share, alongside heavy Labour losses in industrial strongholds.
Several key Labour majorities in Leave-voting areas were wiped out entirely.
Following the results, Labour MP Jonathan Hinder warned his Europhile Commons colleagues risked "destroying" the party by pushing for Sir Keir to go further and rejoin the bloc.
He said: "Look at the results in Wigan, Sunderland, Grimsby, St Helens and Hartlepool.
"And this is the response? Utter contempt for working-class people. These people are destroying Labour."
GB News sat down with Labour veteran Graham Stringer to discuss the potential fallout of a Brexit-induced civil war.
Mr Stringer, Labour's last standing 2016 proponent of Brexit, told The People's Channel: "I think there are some Labour MPs who have never accepted the result of the referendum, including the Prime Minister, who have looked at ways to permanently reverse the decision in part by stealth.”
"It's become a religious view for them against most of the evidence."
He added: "A lot of the Remainers' positions are irrational, illogical, and unrelated to the facts. It has become a religious view... They've got divorced from reality."
Mr Stringer also warned that Brexit had "initiated a split from some of Labour's traditional supporters, and it seems irreversible".
He continued: "People are incensed by the illegal migration and see the impact on their employment with the legal migration… they are more than disappointed; they are angry.
"We haven't taken advantage of moving further away from the EU and making our economy more competitive."
Red Wall Labour MPs have also admitted to feeling the heat from Reform UK.
Mr Farage, who was once dubbed "Mr Brexit" by Donald Trump, now records an average vote share of 40 per cent in council wards where more than 60 per cent of the electorate voted to Leave the EU in the 2016 referendum.
This momentum drove a turquoise tsunami to sweep across traditional Brexit strongholds in the May local elections, including in areas once staunchly represented by Labour.
Strong pro-Brexit dynamics propelled Reform to historic breakthroughs, most notably in Sunderland.
Sunderland, which was the first city to declare for Leave on the night of the 2016 referendum, saw 58 out of 75 wards fall into Reform UK's hands.
However, the pro-Brexit surge was not confined to the North East of England, with Labour losing control of local authorities stretching from Tamworth to Thurrock.
Speaking on Reform UK's surge in local elections in areas that voted leave in 2016, polling guru George Buchan told GB News: "In the lead-up to the referendum, the sovereignty argument was one of the most compelling in the Brexit cause.
"The slogan of the official Leave campaign was 'Take Back Control' after all."
He added: "Voters voted to leave the EU for many reasons. One of the key aspects of that campaign and the votes cast were the votes of many people who did not normally turn out to vote at all.
"This was partly due to the Brexit campaign's apparent offer of change and the anti-establishment element. Nigel Farage is also an excellent communicator who has consistently cast himself and his party against the establishment.
"It is more likely the anti-establishment aspect which has led to Reform’s success in those areas."
But Mr Buchan also argued concerns about sovereignty could yet again cloud any future constitutional debate on whether Britain should rejoin the EU.
"A perception of EU rules and sovereignty is certainly present," he said.
"Pre-referendum cynicism about EU standards was basically mainstream. The focus on that in the chaotic years after the referendum will also have nailed that into people’s minds."
Under Article 49 accession rules, critics fear the UK would lose the opt-outs it held before voting to leave the EU in 2016, including on the single currency and Schengen.
Polling by YouGov suggests sterling and sovereignty remain central concerns for voters, as 85 per cent of 2016 Leave voters said replacing the pound with the euro would be a crucial factor in opposing rejoining.
A further 55 per cent said it would make them far less likely to support re-entry.
Adopting the euro is mandatory for all new countries joining the European Union, with many Britons unwilling to permanently surrender the country's independent monetary policy and economic control.
By adopting the euro, the Bank of England would lose the ability to set interest rates or print money, raising fears of hyperinflation and massive economic bubbles.
Beyond economics, sterling is one of the oldest currencies still in use and holds massive symbolic value.
Tory peer Lord Redwood told GB News: "They've forgotten the huge costs, and we wouldn't get back in on the same batch terms as we've left on."
He added: "Well, what taxes are you going to raise to cover those huge costs of membership on worse terms? And then you've got to accept thousands of European laws, which we managed to escape by being out of it for a few years, and many of those will impose extra costs on businesses, forcing some of them to close or to employ fewer people.
"It's all part of the anti-prosperity machine, which is the EU bureaucracy."
Lord Elliott also told The People's Channel: "You hear at the moment in the UK debate, perhaps we'll join the single market for goods, or perhaps we'll join the customs union, or perhaps we'll have some sort of hybrid approach.
"The EU really isn't interested in that, and Europe made it very, very clear that if we rejoin, it's basically rejoining, joining the Euro and not having the rebates.
"We’d have the full membership fee, which should now be about £28billion a year, and crucially, we'd lose all of the trade deals we've done that you just have, so there are lots of downsides to rejoining, and I don't think that any rejoin campaign will be able to get over the hump of explaining all of that to the electorate. They would think we were better off staying outside the EU."
Mr Campbell Bannerman added: "We would need a second Reeves budget to fund EU fees now of £25billion a year."
Speaking on whether Britain decided to rejoin the EU, the former MEP said: "It would be a terrible punishment deal. A surrender deal. We would have no opt-outs, have to join the Euro, have to pay far more and take in forced numbers of immigrants dictated by Brussels.
He warned: "The EU has moved on far more in 10 years. They would want us in their Army and Border Force and to destroy Britain for their superstate. It would be a disaster."
However, it was a Labour veteran who closed the door on the prospect of rejoining the Brussels bloc.
Mr Stringer said: "We're not going back. However much the government tries by stealth to align us with the European Union, we will not go back in. That means we will always have the right to decide our own laws. We have taken advantage in many areas, but we can go further than we have done.
"When you ask the public whether they would go back in, and you spell out the costs, there is a very, very low percentage of people who would support re-entry.
"So It's a fantasy that some people have that we can rejoin. The sooner they realise we are out and should use the advantages that we have from being independent, the better."