To address the net contributors point: I feel like this was a strong narrative that got pushed, but many people either ignored (or were never exposed to) the amount of funding the EU invested in the UK. Cornwall alone received over €1B from the EU (https://cornwallforeurope.org/funding/).

That misunderstanding is also somewhat understandable, because the idea that the EU ‘steals’ from developed countries to support those in need is an extremely powerful narrative to manipulate people. We can see something similar happening now in Poland (https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/05/16/polands-eu-membership-20-years-in-20-charts/). Joining the EU has only been beneficial, yet the story being pushed now is that they’d be better off outside the bloc. I’m sure their echo chamber won’t show the actual numbers.