The point was that if the vote had been the other way, it would have been perfectly possible to have a second vote any time parliament wanted one. Or any number of votes, until a vote for leaving won.

That was the asymmetry that was built in, and many people failed to appreciate. Those who were firmly for Brexit rightly voted for it. But anyone who was less than 100% for it, or who was undecided, was acting irrationally in voting for it. You have to be 100 per cent sure if you want to divorce your partner. Which is why divorces involve a decree nisi before the decree absolute.

The whole thing is like the shops with the rule "if you break it, you've bought it".