@s1m0n4 I agree the British are much more European than they like to admit. Just look at the EU today: after all this time is it anything the French first envisioned? No. Is it everything the British made it become? Yes, very much so.
Absolutely no one claims the UK or even the GB has drifted away from the European continent. And yet, for all practical purposes it’s not incorrect to express in general speech that “the UK left Europe”.