Good grief...
for many years England was so important and had such vast lands that “the sun never set on the British Empire”
she was literately the leader of the free world..
and no other European country could touch what she was...
and all without the help of those same European countries...and often in spite of them...
the stupidest thing England has done in modern days is to align herself so thoroughly with countries who at one time could not hold a candle to her magnificence...
Escape from them she must if England is to survive as a nation..a sovereign nation standing on her own..
and not just one of an untidy disorganized clump of servient city states joined together by intimidation and greed of their masters rather than an independent, strong and separate country in their own right, governing themselves..
"Free" -- no, she kept colonies who did the bidding of the English parliament. That's why the Irish broke away first. No, England was not the leader of any free world.
"No other European country..." -- yes, from 1815 with the defeat of Napoleon until 1900 that was true, but prior to that, Louis XIV did have a good try and in the later 1800s, Germany pulled ahead -- the Germany productivity increase is what scared the English into an alliance with France and Russia to keep Germany down
and all without the help of those same European countries...and often in spite of them... -- uh... no -- the English colonies in NA got the impetus from Spanish discoveries. ANd the East India company was directly inspired by the Dutch -- and the Dutch were the ones who helped the English get started as a trading nation (until the Anglo-Dutch wars when the pupil decided to behead the master)
The English played the Germans against the French against the Russians against the Austrians etc. - they fought on the side of Moslems against Christians etc. -- all in the interests of BRitannia (of course the French did similar things)
the stupidest thing England has done in modern days is to align herself so thoroughly with countries who at one time could not hold a candle to her magnificence... - rot, they asked to join the EEC because in the 50s the British economy collapsed. They were being surpassed in productivity by Germany, France and even Italy. They joined because they had to and their presence in the EEC helped BOTH the EEC and the UK
And if they do vote for Brexit then your wish will be of England standing alone - Scotland and Wales will break off and North IReland would have to be set aside.
You would have the southern part of the island of britain as a separate nation, surrounded by the EU (Ireland, Scotland, maybe Wales) and dependend on the EU for the majority of its trade and on giant US for the rest. The EU would have no reason to open its financial markets to London and London would lose to competitors such as New York, Frankfurt, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong etc.
Furthermore, they will be as "sovereign" as Norway is -- where Norway still needs to follow EU rules if it wants to trade with the EU, which England WILL have to (as it's largest market and supplier)
your statement is wrong -- as I pointed out in my post above. Right now London accounts for a giant chunk of England's economy -- if Scotland and Wales break off, then this will be even more dominant -- like a giant city state with colonies in Manchester and Newcastle.
And Brexit will make England more dependent on rules made by outsiders and with ZERO ability to influence those rules (Whereas now it can)
Just a correction: England is NOT a sovereign nation and hasn’t been since 1707, nor would it be if it left the EU, it is part of a United Kingdom and sovereignty is shared between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.