CLEARLY, leaving the EU is a significant moment in our island history.

Looking back, the records might well judge that our departure sparked the end of a political project that was doomed at the outset.

No one wants to see the EU implode, but unless, and until, Europe’s leaders take a different course, it will.

The list of rebel countries grows daily.

The EU’s incessant demands for more cash, and its imposition of fixed migrant quotas, are particularly galling.

Victor Orban, the outspoken President of Hungary, told the EU Parliament on Wednesday that his was “not a country of migrants” and that the EU is guilty of double standards in censuring Hungary for cracking down on free movement.

He’s supported by Poland, meaning that the ultimate sanction – stripping Hungary of EU voting rights – cannot be applied.

Meanwhile, Austria, which currently holds the EU Presidency, is using its position to propose stringent regulations for migrants and asylum seekers.

It’s also refusing to increase its payments post Brexit.

Sweden, until now irreproachably liberal, saw a right-wing, anti-immigration party win one fifth of the seats in Sunday’s elections.

With more migrants per capita than any other EU nation, the country has suffered soaring crime rates and violence.

The political upheaval in Sweden now mirrors that of Germany, whose right-wing AfD holds the balance of power.

Migration, too, has taken Italy to the point of considering holding a referendum there.

And Greece remains an economic basket-case, crushed by draconian EU bail-outs, its government teeming with EU functionaries.

Even France’s President Macron admits reform is needed, while polls show a majority of his countrymen are for Frexit.

The wheels are coming off this experiment, and we will be well out of it.