Up until now though they will have thought that they do hold all the cards.I wanted to remain but the things you hear from the EU makes it seem like they will lose nothing if we leave while trying to railroad us with demands.
We are one of the top contributors to the group, are they expecting countries with near 50% of their youth unemployed to increase their share? Doubt they are going to be too happy about that when they struggle to sort their own economies. Are the french / germans going to be happy when they learn they have to pay even more to prop up the rest of the EU to cover the fact we are leaving?
They are trying to create a scenario where they hold all the cards. They can try make things as hard for us as possible to send as message to other countries, it wont affect them as politicians but for the citizens within the EU, they are the ones who will suffer any adverse affects of their demands.
Most people just want to get on with their daily lives, if they find out because their EU politicians wouldn't make a reasonable deal they now pay more tax, their food now costs more or their everyday good has increased in price they wont be sympathetic to accept this just because it was the will of the EU politicians, especially when there was always the option for no change.
Long term it could lead to discontent if they do not consider how any deal affects everyday EU citizens lives.
The machinations in Westminster, that still continue, will have left them confident that we will never be able to credibly threaten a walk-away - without that option and the balls to consider using it then they could have played us for many years.
That is why they are whinging big time about May calling an election - things could all of a sudden get a bit more real.