Politics
Lessons for Switzerland and immigration
Pro-European activist Steve Bray shows what many think: with Brexit, the British have shot themselves in the foot.Image: keystone
The 10 million initiative aims to reduce immigration to Switzerland. This is exactly what the British sought to do when they left the EU in 2016. Things have gone horribly wrong.
05/31/2026, 10:00 a.m.05/31/2026, 10:00 a.m.
Britain has never been an easy-to-manage member of the European Union. There was always friction, for example over payments to the common budget. On the right fringe of the Conservative Party, Brussels has become an enemy, even though it was precisely the Conservative Party that applied for membership in 1973. In 2016, the time has come for opponents of the EU.
Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron promised to hold a referendum on EU membership before his success in the 2015 general election. He had once rejected it, but as head of government he has become a supporter. It didn’t help: on June 23, 2016, 52% voted for Brexit.
After the Brexit defeat, Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation.Image: EPA/EPA
Ten years have passed since then, which has taken its toll on the UK. The Brexiters’ slogan “Take Back Control” was just an empty promise. Even though new trade agreements were reached, they could not compensate for the loss of the European market. The British economy has suffered up to eight percent of gross domestic product (GDP)..
Constant chaos at Westminster
A kind of permanent chaos has developed in the British political system, which is actually oriented towards clear conditions. Since David Cameron’s resignation after the Brexit collapse, five successors have taken over at 10 Downing Street in London. And number six might be moving in soon.
Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in power since 2024, has his back against the wall after his party’s recent electoral defeats. Almost no one is betting that it can last long. Starmer fought against Brexit, but critics such as former health minister Wes Streeting say he is too timid on closer ties with the EU.
The majority want to return to the EU
Streeting wants to “inherit” Starmer and promises a return of Great Britain to the EU. The majority of his compatriots are behind him. For years, surveys have shown that more than 50 percent of Britons I want to cancel the withdrawal. They realized that almost none of the concrete promises had been kept.
Wes Streeting wants to become Prime Minister and bring Britain back into the EU.Image: keystone
This is particularly true for the main reason why a narrow majority voted to Leave: anger at the high levels of immigration caused by the free movement of people with the EU. This creates a link with the vote on the UDC initiative “No, 10 million from Switzerland!” » It also aims to end the free movement agreement.
Feeling of loss of control
In the kingdom, immigration after the EU’s eastward expansion in 2004 has sparked resentment. Labor Prime Minister Tony Blair waived the protection clauses that were possible at the time because the British economy needed workers. Around 800,000 people came to the island from Poland alone. This created a feeling of loss of control among the population.
The parallels with the current debate in Switzerland are obvious. Brexit supporters around Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage used resentment for their campaign. But after Brexit it became clear that there was no reduction in either asylum or labor migration. The opposite happened: in both cases, the numbers exploded.
Asylum
Boat migration across the Channel is a constant nuisance in the UK. It has not decreased since Brexit but has increased. In 2025, more than 40,000 people came. This is particularly due to the fact that the kingdom also left the European asylum system with Brexit. This means that the government no longer has access to EU databases.
Since Brexit, more and more migrants are trying to cross the Channel by boat.Image: keystone
“Rejected asylum seekers have one last chance to try again in the UK,” said migration expert Madeleine Sumption from the University of Oxford the NZZ. Justice Minister Beat Jans also warns against this, because if the free movement of people ends, Switzerland could lose its participation in the Schengen-Dublin system.
There is no direct link, but the two agreements are politically linked. A removal of Schengen/Dublin by the EU is therefore a possible scenario. There is great concern within the Department of Justice and Police (FDJP), and the British experience with migrants on boats confirms this.
Work
The development of regular immigration has been even more extreme. After Brexit, Prime Minister Boris Johnson wanted to regulate them by the state, which is also what the UDC is calling for during the current election campaign. A points system like in Australia or Canada was introduced. To obtain a visa, you had to earn the equivalent of at least 28,000 francs per year.
However, there are many exceptions for sectors with shortages such as nursing, construction or IT. As a result, exactly the opposite of what was hoped for with Brexit has happened. In 2015, the year before the referendum, net immigration was around 330,000 people. In 2022 and 2023, this number will triple to more than 900,000.
After Brexit, migration from third countries exploded.Image: bbc
Since many EU citizens left the kingdom at the same time, labor came from third countries such as India, Nigeria or the Philippines. And the end of the non-bureaucratic free movement of people has led, according to the NZZ, “to British employers starting to recruit more aggressively”. This is exactly what Switzerland should be thinking about.
Brexit therefore had a counterproductive effect. We’re talking about “Boriswave”, a reference to the former Prime Minister who helped the country leave the EU. In recent years, the screws have been tightened, for example in terms of family reunification. As a result, immigration fell to 2015 levels.
The UDC also wants to emphasize family reunification. In Britain, however, according to the NZZ, its restrictions have led to retirement homes finding it increasingly difficult to recruit nursing staff. And due to more restrictive student visas, UK universities have to make do with lower tuition fees.
Conclusion
Ten years after this memorable vote, the Brexit result is sobering. More migrants have arrived instead of fewer, the British economy is only just getting off the ground, the national debt is higher than it has been in 60 years and the British have had to make painful concessions to the EU in fishing or on the border with Ireland.
This is also the conclusion of a study by the new foundation “Swiss Perspectives in Europe”, presented Thursday in Bern. Regarding Brexit, unrealistic assumptions have been made: “In particular, they overestimated their own negotiating power and underestimated the EU’s own interests. »
“There was a lack of a plan to implement Brexit,” said Tobias Lock, an expert on European law from Maynooth University in Ireland. He wrote this study together with Jan Atteslander, long-time head of foreign trade policy at Economiesuisse. The parallel with Switzerland is obvious: after the abandonment of the framework agreement, the Federal Council did not have a plan B either.
Keir Starmer’s government is nevertheless taking inspiration from Switzerland. According to “The Economist”, this tends to to a kind of dynamic adoption of EU law. This is how the concept became the largest battleground in Bilateral III, negotiated to replace the framework agreement.
The comparison is perhaps wrong because the British do not know direct democracy as we understand it. Switzerland must nevertheless serve as a model. In Brussels, the enthusiasm for such an agreement is manageable, in particular because of the red lines defined by the government in London: no to the internal market, the customs union and the free movement of people.
Keir Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen want to get closer again. The only question is how?Image: keystone
At least the latter is difficult to maintain, according to The Economist. The business magazine gives clear advice to a “braveer Labor prime minister” than Starmer: instead of reversing exit from the EU, he should strive for better access to the internal market “Swiss-style” in exchange for the free movement of people.
In fact, it comes down to our bilateral path, with or without dynamic legal adoption. Looking back at the last ten years, with the failed Brexit and our often equally messed up European debate, we can’t help but smile.
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Sources 2/ https://www.watson.ch/schweiz/international/599998973-10-jahre-brexit-die-lehren-fuer-die-schweiz-und-die-zuwanderung The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
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