Labour MP Jo White reflects on Brexit ten years on, writing for The Mirror: ‘The mantra of take back control is now the clarion call. But control from who, about who, to do what? Everybody has their own version’Jo White, chair of the Labour MP Red Wall group07:12, 22 Jun 2026The ten-year anniversary of the Brexit vote will be marked on 23rd June(Image: Bloomberg via Getty Images)When the Brexit Referendum was first mooted two Labour MPs, Mike Gapes and my husband, John Mann, were pretty much alone in their scepticism of holding a referendum.Both pointed out that the problem with one-off referendums is that people inevitably vote on other issues, not the matter at hand. They were proved correct. In my constituency few people were voting on the EU issues constantly debated in Parliament.They voted on how they saw the wider world, on their insecurity at work, failing public services and broken infrastructure, and the sense of being ignored, spoken down to and forgotten. In Bassetlaw, they voted about immigration.Having unleashed the opportunity for the public to have its say, we have since been engulfed by the world of social media giving a platform to all and any views. “Billy no mates”, stuck in his bedroom, now has a whole world to speak to about their deep and profound wisdoms.Jo White, the MP for Bassetlaw, said: ‘In my constituency few people were voting on the EU issues constantly debated in Parliament'(Image: Retford Times)The mantra of take back control is now the clarion call. But control from who, about who, to do what? Everybody has their own version and so the concept of distant hidden elites now grips public belief.I am not doing well because someone, somewhere wants to do me in. It’s somewhat comparable to the way religion has been used to guide political narratives and chorale communities for centuries.The obvious answer is to deal with the biggest issue, which is immigration, as this is what so many of my constituents believed they were voting on. Politics will not move on until the boats are stopped.But there is a wider malaise that we need to directly confront. It’s not a conspiracy to believe and say that our traditional economic modelling, inside and outside of the Treasury, has given a much higher value to investment in London, followed by the cities and the Southeast.The post-industrial and coastal towns of the country have been marginalised and ignored due to the embedded assumptions that determine major investments and infrastructure spending. If these models had been followed 150 years ago, we would not have had an industrial revolution.The Referendum and disconnection from Europe have not been the seismic shock needed to break apart the embedded economic models that defy entrepreneurialism and innovation, that have served to fossilise yesterday’s successes rather than tomorrow’s opportunities.I know that the Chancellor is listening, but if we fail to revolutionise our understanding of economic growth, then we will simply endorse a cycle of volatile politics, where the Billy no mates decide on our future and the creators and risk takers disappear abroad to make their fame and fortune.A new Prime Minister, or renewed Prime Minster, the person in charge should bring the Red Wall inside the tent. They could start by bringing together the top 50 self-made millionaires with established successful UK businesses, who disproportionately built their wealth away from London and the City as they would spark this revolution.
