Bangladesh, Jan. 1 -- In 2026, the United Kingdom will quietly pass a milestone that few of its political architects once imagined would be marked by such widespread regret: the tenth anniversary of the Brexit referendum. What was sold to the British public in 2016 as a bold reclamation of sovereignty, prosperity, and national control has, a decade on, come to symbolize economic disruption, political paralysis, and a prolonged sense of national drift. Far from delivering the promised dividends, Brexit has left the UK still grappling with its consequences, struggling to define its place in a world it once helped shape from the inside.

The original referendum was approved by a narrow margin that immediately exposed deep fractures within Br...