It's been a decade since the Brexit referendum, and much has changed. The media regularly polls the general public, but how does the insurance industry feel now?
We asked our LinkedIn insurance and risk community a simple hypothetical question this month: if a fresh referendum on UK membership of the European Union were held tomorrow, how would you vote?
Our poll showed the readership is split, but that a majority of 58% said they would vote to remain, while 26% said they would still vote to leave. The remaining respondents were split between favouring closer UK-EU alignment and describing the issue as more complicated than a binary choice.
The question deliberately asked participants how they would vote today, rather than whether they regretted their decision in 2016. That distinction matters. People's views can evolve over time without necessarily reflecting on the original referendum. Even so, the findings point to a notable shift within a profession that has experienced many of Brexit's commercial consequences first hand.
The poll closed in the same week that a Bank of England-backed study put fresh numbers on the wider economic impact of Brexit.
A Bank of England-backed study published as The Economic Impact of Brexit estimated that, had the referendum produced a different result, the UK economy would now be around 6% larger, with some methodologies suggesting the gap could be closer to 8%. The research, co-authored by Stanford economist Nick Bloom alongside Bank of England economists, attributes roughly half of that difference to the uncertainty following the referendum and the remainder to the trade barriers introduced after 2021.
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has said that reduced access to European markets has weighed on economic growth. While some economists dispute the study's methodology and argue it cannot fully isolate Brexit from other global economic shocks, Goldman Sachs has reached a broadly similar estimate.
For the insurance industry, those wider economic effects translated into operational change. Lost passporting rights forced many insurers to establish EU subsidiaries, duplicate regulatory functions and restructure their European operations. Insurance Business UK previously examined those sector-specific consequences in detail.
Few sectors experienced Brexit as directly as insurance. The loss of passporting rights, the creation of EU subsidiaries, duplicated compliance requirements and revised policy wordings became practical challenges for brokers, insurers and underwriters across the market. For many respondents, those changes were not abstract economic concepts but part of their day-to-day work.
The findings are also broadly consistent with wider public opinion. YouGov polling published in June 2026 found that 57% of people in Great Britain now believe leaving the European Union was the wrong decision, compared with 30% who still believe it was the right one, placing the insurance community broadly in line with wider public opinion.
The poll also lands during a period of political uncertainty. Keir Starmer's resignation as prime minister and Labour leader has reopened questions over whether the UK's relationship with the European Union could evolve under new leadership.
For the insurance market, the issue extends beyond politics. Industry bodies including the London Market Group and LIIBA have continued to argue for closer regulatory cooperation and greater market access where possible.
Speaking previously to Insurance Business UK, Chris Croft, chief executive of LIIBA, said the identity of the next chancellor could ultimately matter more than the next prime minister, particularly if economic growth becomes the government's central priority.
Whatever happens politically, however, the structural changes introduced after Brexit remain firmly embedded. Insurers continue to operate dual-entity structures, hold additional capital and navigate separate UK and EU regulatory regimes following the end of passporting.
Whether that changes in the years ahead remains uncertain. What the poll does suggest is that, within one of the industries most directly affected by Brexit, a majority of respondents would make a different choice if asked the question again today.
