Is post-Brexit Britain actually freer to prosper?

MATCH OF THE DAY: ECONOMIC FREEDOM — EU 3, Britain 1

Referee: Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom

In the referendum campaign, Iain Duncan Smith sold Brexit as a wider freedom game: outside the EU, Britain “has been a global trader, it can again be a global trader” and could secure “access to the world and to the EU.” The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom averages 12 measures across rule of law, government size, regulatory efficiency and open markets — a tidy enough test of whether Brexit actually made Britain freer to prosper. Ten years on, the scoreboard is clearer than the slogan. Britain is still “mostly free,” but not obviously freer to prosper than the Brexit pitch promised.

WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?

In Heritage’s latest 2026 data, Britain scores 70.4 and ranks 29th in the world, up from 69.3 in 2025 but still behind Germany on 71.7, with France on 64.6 and Italy on 63.3. In the top 5, Britain leads this small field through 2021, then slips behind Germany and the EU average from 2022. Heritage’s own view is blunt: Britain still has innovation and high-value services, but rising operating costs, a larger state, public debt at 100 percent of GDP and persistent deficits have weakened the edge. Brexit left Britain freer in theory than in delivery. 

3 REASONS why Britain lost the economic freedom match to the EU

1) PLAN — sovereignty deferred

The promise was expansive. Duncan Smith said Britain could be a global trader again, and Heritage argued in 2017 that Brexit could raise economic freedom if the UK used its new autonomy to cut tariffs, strip out costly regulation and open markets faster than the EU. But that was a possibility, not a plan, and Britain spent much of the next decade managing the consequences of leaving its biggest market rather than cashing a sovereignty dividend. By 2026, Starmer was still negotiating a “reset” to remove food-trade friction and border paperwork that the original Brexit settlement had left in place. Britain won discretion, but never built a serious delivery machine for the promise. 

Plan score: UK 4/10, EU 7/10 — sovereignty arrived; mechanism did not. 

2) POLICY — more room to choose, more weight to carry

Britain still scores well but the state-facing numbers are ugly: government spending scores 41.1 and fiscal health just 32.4. That matters because the index is designed to punish a country whose public weight outruns its competitive sharpness. At the same time, Brexit added non-tariff barriers to Britain’s largest trading relationship; both BBC Verify and Reuters note that even with zero tariffs and zero quotas, customs paperwork, regulatory checks and slower trade remained. Britain needed a leaner, faster state. Instead, it added friction abroad while carrying more weight at home. 

Policy score: UK 5/10, EU 7/10 — more freedom to act, less evidence of cleaner execution. 

3) PERFORMANCE — Germany turned the numbers into a system

Germany and the EU average now beat Britain on the Heritage headline score because strong openness is paired with stronger institutional ballast. Heritage says Germany’s openness to global commerce, strong property-rights protection and sounder regulatory environment still support competitiveness despite energy costs, bureaucracy and stagnation. Britain remains ahead of France and Italy,but the Brexit promise was not to finish just above Italy on goal difference. It was to become freer to prosper than Britain could be inside the EU system. On that test, Germany institutionalised the gain that Britain kept advertising. 

Performance score: UK 6/10, EU 8/10 — decent form, no title charge. 

FINAL WHISTLE — what this score really means

Brexit gave Britain more legal room, but not a better season on the one scoreboard meant to reward economic liberty. Britain’s problem on economic freedom is a lack of conversion: Brexit won the right to choose, but not the machinery to turn that choice into stronger fiscal discipline, lower trade friction and a more reliably pro-competitive state. The reset with Europe may trim some of the paperwork and friction that Brexit created, but unless Britain also tackles the domestic drag — debt, deficits, weak investment and an over-expanded state — it will still look like a side with good feet and no midfield. The deeper question is which European countries actually translated freedom into lasting prosperity once the noise died down. 

SEE WHERE BRITAIN REALLY STANDS

The Power Brief gives you the match. The Situation Report gives you the season — the full league table, the longer line from 2012 to 2030, the wider field of comparison, and the countries that converted openness into durable prosperity better than Britain did. Inside the SitRep are the full peer rankings, the future line, the leaders who escaped Britain’s trap, and the route back if there still is one. If you want to stop guessing and start seeing where post-Brexit Britain is actually heading, that is the guide that does it.