We remainers must now aim for Britain to do well – and the EU even better | Timothy Garton Ash

Hard though it is to accept, as patriots we must wish Brexit a (partial) success

Britain has not left Europe; it has just stepped into another room. Its European role has always been complex and ambivalent. "The desire for isolation, the knowledge that it is impossible - these are the two poles between which the needle of the British compass continues to waver." The words of the historian RW Seton-Watson in a history of Britain in Europe published in 1937. True then, even more true now.

We ex-remainers have consistently argued that Brexit will leave the UK weaker, poorer, more divided, less influential, less attractive to the rest of the world. Some evidence is already in. According to Bloomberg Economics, by the end of this year Brexit will have cost Britain some 200bn in lost economic growth - nearly as much (adjusted for inflation) as the country has paid in to the EU budget over the entire period of its membership since 1973.

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