The British E.U. naysayers pointed out the pain the nation would experience if after ill-advisedly giving up their national independence to be partially ruled by the continental Europeans they then TRIED to return to total self-rule. All that is happening is exactly what they warned the pro E.U. faction would happen. It boils down to what is autonomy worth to the British. That is being answered today in real time.
Perhaps it would have been best NOT to have given up autonomy in the first place.