I think the boring truth is that they fared quite well outside of the EU, exception being the more international jobs in larger cities.<p>That is also true for the current worries. Gas and electricity pricing is on many minds right now and certainly not due or caused by Brexit.<p>Within the EU Britain was an important partner as being the most prominent opposition to expansionism. That was often just clowning around for a domestic audience, but it nevertheless served a purpose.<p>Something like EU rights or a EU constitution doesn't really make sense. There just simply is no incentive to follow its own rules. Why should the parliament ever vote for subsidiary delegation? I just will never happen. Fiscal policies are broken like it would be some kind of sport to help countries with large debts.<p>Currently we get the unpopular laws through EU policy if they are too unpopular for domestic initiatives. Not the fault of the EU? True, but in the end it doesn't matter that it happens. To free yourself from that seems prudent honestly.<p>Of course the EU has and had democratic deficits. Proponents of the EU idea fared better when they were honest and transparent about it. To deny the obvious will not convince many people.<p>There is inflation, energy prices and cost of living going up. That is true for almost all EU countries right now and unrelated to both Brexit and the EU, we have a private energy and housing market.<p>I think the British leftist opposition to Brexit killed itself when it said the referendum would be non-binding and democratically questionable. Such false rationalization do not convey confidence. They probably need a while to recover. We can only hope the the EU leftist parties do not make the same mistake or they will create their own self-fulfilling nightmares.