I'm really interested to see how this turns out. Even if Britain left the EU, they wouldn't immediately get rid of their "shackles". It would be the start of a long-winded negotiation process based on an obscure article of the "Treaty on the European Union". So yes, nobody knows what would happen, as there has been no precedent for anyone leaving.
Also, half of the stuff the British papers write about the EU (the articles about sausages, cucumbers and whatnot) are sensationalistic bullstuff.