My impression at the moment is that the Leave side has been surprised by its own victory. While they were all clamouring to get their independence back and jettison the unfair EU, they have all gone strangely quiet and nobody’s demanding that Cameron activate the article 50 procedure. As to the result being considered final and that’s that – Nigel Farage himself said on 16 May that any result other than 60-40 would not be a final result and that he will demand a new referendum – that was when he expected to lose! The petition on the parliament site https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/131215 has hit over 1 700 000 signatures in about 24 hours. To my knowledge, that’s unprecedented in such a short time. I guess that most of the signatories (including the Brits in my family) are demanding a new referendum with clearer rules, but others are people who regret their Leave vote and would like a chance to change it. Now the petition will be debated in the parliament, before a decision is made – although it will be hard to ignore such a massive number of people. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the pro-Remain parliament and Cameron took this opportunity to delay the ghastly moment of the Glorious Independent Great Britain sailing into the glorious sunrise.
Unless the political center finds new resolve, populist movements of left and right will rush in to fill the power vacuum.
Source: Tony Blair: Brexit’s Stunning Coup – The New York Times