In reply to deepsoup:
> No, and that would be fine. There'd be nothing stopping those campaigning for 'Brexit' from continuing to try to make their case and build a stronger mandate for another referendum a year or two down the road. (Or alternatively perhaps a solid general election victory based on a manifesto commitment to that effect.)
The problem is that if that referendum ended up as 'leave', we'd right back where we are now, with the same predictions of economic disaster and brownshirts on the streets of Bradford, and another call to overthrow the result because it's not in the national interest. Also by the time that all that has happened we'll be so entwined with the EU it will be impossible to leave.
> Because that's the thing about a massive irreversible change, the decision to not do it (for now) *is* reversible, as we may soon be finding out about Scottish independence.
A massive almost irreversible change has already happened by stealth. The UK voted in a referendum in 1972(?) to join the EEC. That was an economic community, not the EU. The EU has arisen by stealth, treaty by treaty, until withdrawal is all but impossible without financial ruin.
I ultimately voted remain, but for purely financial reasons and out of narrow self interest. In the long term, over say 30 to 50 years, leaving might well be the best thing for this country. If we don't leave now then we'll never have the opportunity again.
Post edited at 23:18