Let me put it this way. One reason I did not vote Leave was because I thought this unholy mess would be an outcome.
It’s interesting, reading the responses, to imagine what the situation would’ve been had the result been 52:48 for Remain. I think I can say with some confidence that the country would not have got behind it. And with good reason.
I was hoping for an even tighter 50.1:49.9 Remain result. I expect that would have resulted in another referendum within 5 years, not the whole country getting behind the decision.
The problems we have are twofold- the public and the Parliament.
Among the public, the outcome was not 52:48 but 37:35:28 where 28 is the percentage that did not vote. On top of that, there was a significant number not even invited to vote. 16-17 year olds and expats for example. So it’s reasonable to assume that perhaps a majority of the public don’t want to Leave but, anyway, it’s at least a very large number of people.
In Parliament, they are not equipped to deliver this decision. It runs across rather than along party lines. It needs something like a government of national unity to deliver it. And we have the very opposite.
All of this was predictable. All of this was certainly on my mind when I was voting and hoping for a marginal Remain victory.
To blame Remainers or Leavers for it is disingenuous. We’re all to blame for the bickering, but the source of the current bickering is that Leavers voted to Leave.