UK's euro-bashing starts to wear on Brussels

Hugo Brady from the CER, believes that in the end pragmatism will prevail, and other states and the commission will want to avoid excluding a large country like the UK, which is home to many other EU nationals. But, he says, the re-entry will come with strings attached, some of which will eliminate some of the repatriation of powers that UK lawmakers are so keen to achieve.

Mr Brady is worried the government's anti-EU stance may unleash a torrent in Brussels and in Westminster just as the bloc is reinventing itself. Mr Cameron's defeat in Wednesday's vote may be the first sign that euro-skepticism has slipped out of the government's control. "It's difficult to see how this will end well," Mr Brady says.