( CNN ) -- This month , Britain 's deputy prime minister squared up to the leader of the country 's euroskeptic Independence Party to advocate the merits of his nation 's membership of the EU . So did Nick Clegg convince the electorate in this televised debate that Britain was better off inside the union ? In short , no . For all Clegg 's passion for Europe , polls showed two thirds of those asked thought his opponent , Nigel Farage , had won the day by suggesting the UK 's future was brighter outside the bloc -- not in . As an island nation with its own regional identity politics to consider , Britain knows what it 's like having ambivalent bedfellows . The eurozone crisis has prompted Brussels to advocate closer cooperation within the bloc , but the UK has n't just been swimming against the tide on that topic -- it 's also been trying to prevent Scotland from leaving its own union . Farage , a member of the European Parliament and staunch europhobe , paints a controversial figure among eurocrat circles . He has suggested that the EU will end in tears , with people taking to the streets if countries see their democracy further eroded . Clegg , by contrast , points to the massive advantage the common market awards British manufacturers and the stability the EU has brought this once war-torn region . Both claims may be exaggerated and the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle . One thing is certain -- the discussion highlights how Europe 's union needs to be more receptive to its members ' changing needs . Britain was never a member of the original `` Inner Six '' nations that laid the foundations for what the EU has become today . Yet UK 's recent and very public soul-searching has become a source of exasperation for pro-Europe leaders like the German Chancellor Angela Merkel . UK Prime Minister David Cameron has promised his people a referendum on the subject if his Conservative Party is reelected next year and has lobbied Brussels hard on the need for reform and cumbersome treaty change . The incontrovertible fact is that as the EU has become bigger and its bureaucracy has ballooned , it has n't kept pace with some of its members changing economies -- in particular Britain 's . Some might argue that what started out as an economic bloc has also overplayed its hand , drifting into notoriously torpid areas like justice and foreign policy . While the single market undoubtedly has myriad benefits for the exports of British goods , it has n't helped the nation 's services sector anywhere near as much . A report by Open Europe written in 2012 found that although nearly three quarters of the UK 's GDP comes from services , just 3.2 % of that is generated by intra-EU trade . Reels of bureaucratic red tape and grandiose pronouncements about regulating the financial services industry -- the jewel in its capital 's crown -- have left Britain feeling singled out in the single market . This comes just as the other goal of the EU -- the free movement of people -- has made immigration soar . Add to this edicts from the European Court of Human Rights and increasingly protectionist economic directives , jarring with a UK which sees a bright future in trade with other partners like the U.S. and China . The net result : Britain has been left feeling its sovereignty has been eroded , shackled by laws made elsewhere . There are a few options for the UK should it wish to surrender its membership card . It could emulate models followed by Switzerland , Norway and Turkey , becoming part of the European Economic Area or signing individual ad hoc cooperation agreements with individual countries over which it has more control . It could even make a clean break and just be part of a ( now increasingly irrelevant ) World Trade Organisation . None of these would be good for Britain or the world economy . They would require major upheaval and sour its investment climate considerably . Britain 's potential exit may also throw a spanner in the works as the EU and the U.S. negotiate the world 's largest free trade agreement -- one which would open up each other 's goods to a 700 million-strong consumer market . Yet the UK economy is growing much faster than its EU neighbors and as the nation rebounds the confidence of its convictions has also strengthened . Monty Python , one of Britain 's most successful comedy exports , once asked : `` What have the Romans ever done for us ? '' Now a whole nation is asking the same of Europe . And whether they are right to do so or not , Brussels better take note . Read more from Nina dos Santos : EU should leave trade alone . U.S. - EU trade pact key to rebuilding trans-Atlantic ties . Scotland and England : Better together or more affluent apart ?
Nina dos Santos analyzes British debate on the country 's relationship with the EU . She says the EU needs to be more receptive to its members ' changing needs . Comment: