@YARR
"Russia and India have space programmes, look at the size of their economies compared to the UK. How do they afford it?".
Perhaps you are not quite up to date with the size of economies.
COUNTRY COMPARISON :: GDP (PURCHASING POWER PARITY)
Rank Country GDP (PURCHASING POWER PARITY) Date of Information
1 China $19,390,000,000,000 2015 est.
2 European Union $19,180,000,000,000 2015 est.
3 United States $17,950,000,000,000 2015 est.
4 India $7,965,000,000,000 2015 est.
5 Japan $4,830,000,000,000 2015 est.
6 Germany $3,841,000,000,000 2015 est.
7 Russia $3,718,000,000,000 2015 est.
8 Brazil $3,192,000,000,000 2015 est.
9 Indonesia $2,842,000,000,000 2015 est.
10 United Kingdom $2,679,000,000,000 2015 est.
11 France $2,647,000,000,000 2015 est.
12 Mexico $2,227,000,000,000 2015 est.
13 Italy $2,171,000,000,000 2015 est.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html
And apparently the Brexit has already caused this text too:
"The UK, a leading trading power and financial center, is the third largest economy in Europe after Germany and France".