Brexit brothers remain convinced a decade on from EU referendum

A decade ago, the Brexit vote split a nation and divided two brothers each with their own haulage business in Nottinghamshire. And with 10 years now passed, they both remain convinced they voted the right way, one to remain in the European Union, and the other to leave. Brexiteer Nigel Baxter, managing director of RH Commercial Vehicles in Nottingham, said on the anniversary of the result, there had been "no adverse affects" on his trade and leaving Europe had freed the country from "a damaging bill and damaging restrictions". But "frustrated" Remain voter Ian Baxter, chairman of Baxter Freight in the city, said: "If people had grievances before Brexit, they have them double now." In a referendum on 23 June 2016, a slim majority of Britons voted to leave the EU - ending a relationship which had been in place since 1973. Brexit meant Brexit - not that anyone at the time knew exactly what it would entail. But Nigel Baxter told the BBC back in 2016 fears over its impact were "overplayed" and said: "Trade will continue. We can save a huge amount of money." But 10 years ago, Nigel's brother Ian held fears trade would be slowed by red tape, telling the BBC: "I'm in the European freight business and I know the damage that will happen to our exports if we leave the European Union." Ian said he too had seen his business grow since the UK cut ties - but still felt that Remain would have been the way to go. As the country marked the 10 year milestone, he said: "I'm a bit frustrated because I think we've seen that the claims made by the Brexit campaign weren't correct and I think we've ended up in a place where our cost of living has gone up, our trade with Europe has gone down, immigration has spun out of control, there are more regulations, there's more bureaucracy than there was before, and if people had grievances before Brexit they have them double now. "If you work in logistics and someone makes logistics more complicated then if you can adapt to that, you can prosper, and that's what we've been able to do. "Our business has grown tremendously since Brexit. Our customers need more support but ultimately it is because of things being more difficult than they were before. "What we need is the closest possible pragmatic relationship with our European friends and partners to make the best of a bad job."