It's not just the UK in that position. The EU is the way that all those former European empires were going to be able to succeed economically without their colonies' extracted wealth. Some historians, like Timothy Snyder, view this as the primary purpose of the EU, which is rather contrary to its usual founding story.

But I find it compelling because these sorts of economic pushes are usually so forceful, and it's rather shocking how a country like the UK allowed itself to be fooled by external influencing to self-immolate as it did.