"Clearly the basic referendum was totally democratic"

Precisely the opposite of this is the truth. Elected representatives, paid to know what they're talking about and paid to do the job, put the decision in the hands of an ignorant electorate whose ignorance was deliberately maintained by a campaign of cynical lies on both sides. The electorate was presented with a fear campaign that had no basis in reality from one side and by a pack of lies about taking back control, pie in the sky promises about the NHS and a healthy dose of racism thrown in by the other side. If that's your idea of democracy in action, well it isn't mine.