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At the start of the 2000s, the demands of the British economy, specifically in terms of manpower, led Tony Blair’s Labour government to open the United Kingdom’s (UK) borders more widely to non-EU (European union) migrants, while allowing workers from the new EU member states to move to Britain without restriction. This article seeks to show that this migration policy was accused of placing an unbearable burden on public services. It became the target of hostility from a growing share of the British population and was cleverly associated with the debate on British membership of the EU by those who were the most hostile to the European project. The successive electoral victories of UKIP, the main Eurosceptic party, led both the Labour and Conservative parties to change their attitudes on these issues. The latter were back in power and 2010 with the promise of cutting the number of immigrants, before committing to organising a referendum on the country’s membership of the EU. But the government was divided and did not manage to convince voters that leaving the EU would not be sufficient to solve the social and economic issues that faced Britain. Since 23 June 2016 one of the challenges for British leaders has been to negotiate an exit that would have the least negative consequences for the country’s economy despite the fact that ending free movement will harm it directly.