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"From now on, the narrative will be one of disintegration, not integration," says Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank. "That doesn’t mean that the EU will fall apart, or even that another country will leave, which is highly unlikely in the foreseeable future. But the centrist politicians who run nearly every EU member-state will henceforth be on the defensive against the populist forces who oppose them and the EU."

That dream is now over. As Charles Grant, the director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank put it: "Brexit is a momentous event in the history of Europe and from now on the narrative will be one of disintegration not integration."

"Whatever Juncker and a few federalist diehards in Brussels may think, most EU governments have woken up to the reality that the more Europe the push, the more euroscepticism they get," said Charles Grant from the Centre for European Reform. "The knee-jerk reaction of the Commission is always to try to seize on any crisis to try to push for more Europe and closer integration, but they can dream on this time," he said. 

“If we have a second election without a clear result, it will contribute to the existing sense of crisis in Europe,” Camino Mortera Martinez, a researcher from the Centre for European Reform, told the Telegraph. “Brexit is the worst crisis imaginable and now the EU needs strong states to deal with what’s coming up”.

In the most illuminating of the many quick reactions to the vote, the CER's John Springford rightly writes: "The best way to manage the economic risks would be for the EU to make a quick offer for the UK to join the European Economic Area" - know as the "Norway option".

"Aunque este referéndum sólo afecta a Reino Unido, el sentimiento de crítica a la UE lo comparten tantos países en estos momentos que es muy arriesgando culpar únicamente a la pérfida Albion", dice a este periódico el analista del Centre for European Reform, Rem Korteweg.

Brytyjski instytut statystyczny podał w czwartek, że tylko w 2015 r. ludność Zjednoczonego Królestwa wzrosła o 500 tys. osób, do 65,1 mln osób. 2/3 z tego wzrostu wynika z imigracji.Jednak Ian Bond, dyrektor Centre for European Reform powiedział "Rzeczpospolitej", że spadek dochodów Brytyjczyków, a także problemy z infrastrukturą wynikają z polityki surowych oszczędności budżetowych prowadzonej przez Davida Camerona od 2010 r. "Problemy emigracji, to była fałszywa debata" mówi Bond.