Key facts
- Leave-voting areas have seen faster relative growth in foreign workers since the 2016 Brexit referendum.
- The proportion of foreign workers in Leave-voting areas has increased significantly, in some cases doubling in relative terms.
- Remain-voting areas, while having more foreign workers in absolute numbers, experienced slower relative growth.
- Strongest Remain-voting seats in England showed the largest improvements in deprivation metrics.
- Conversely, Brexit-voting areas became relatively more deprived in health, housing, services, and crime rankings.
A Guardian investigation has revealed that areas in the UK that voted to leave the European Union have experienced a faster relative growth in foreign workers since the 2016 Brexit referendum. This trend has occurred even as these areas have become relatively more deprived economically and socially over the same period.
The analysis of government Pay As You Earn data indicates that between 2016 and the end of 2024, the percentage of non-UK workers grew most rapidly in areas that voted strongly for Leave. This is largely because these regions previously had a smaller proportion of foreign workers. For example, in Wigan, the share of non-UK employees more than doubled in relative terms, rising from less than 5% in June 2016 to just under 10% in December 2024. Nationally, the overall proportion of foreign workers increased by approximately 40% during the same timeframe.
While larger cities, which predominantly voted to Remain, still host the largest absolute numbers of non-UK workers, their foreign workforces grew at a slower relative pace. This suggests that areas less accustomed to migrant populations are now experiencing a more noticeable integration of foreign workers into their local economies.
Further analysis of deprivation data from 2015 to 2025 indicates a divergence in economic well-being. The strongest Remain-voting constituencies in England, such as Bristol Central and Cambridge, saw the most significant improvements, while many Brexit-voting areas, including Boston and Skegness and Hartlepool, became relatively more deprived. This pattern was observed across health measures, housing and services, and crime rankings.
Experts caution against directly attributing all economic changes solely to Brexit. Anand Menon, director of The UK in a Changing Europe, noted that people react to change and that broader factors like the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have also impacted less prosperous regions, many of which voted to leave. He also pointed out that attributing all economic difficulties to 2016 overlooks the fact that economic weakness may have contributed to the majority vote for Leave in the first place.