The sun never set on the British Empire. Lauren Hurley/Press Association. All rights reserved.
The United Kingdom could ‘better face the future outside the European Union’. That was the opinion of 43% of respondents in the European Union Public Opinion survey, the Eurobarometer, in May 2015. It’s hardly surprising that such a large proportion of the population has such a bleak view of the benefits the EU brings to the UK, considering that scrutiny of Brussels has intensified over recent years. And in the run-up to the referendum, the spotlight is well and truly fixed on the issue.
A ‘eurosceptic’ narrative has also become more prominent recently, in tandem with the rise of the UK’s anti-EU lobby. As such, events in both the UK and across Europe are being interpreted as part of the rudimentary cost-benefit analysis of EU-UK relations.
