This isn't a legal issue but instead an extremely serious social/political issue. This is a microcosm of the history and future of politics. You have a majority

This isn't a legal issue but instead an extremely serious social/political issue. This is a microcosm of the history and future of politics. You have a majority that want one thing, and a ruling class that doesn't necessarily share the interests of this majority--or any of their subjects for that matter. Now I don't have any valid opinion as to if the decision to leave is a good or bad one but that's not what I'm talking about. What I'm interested in is a direct refusal to adhere to the requests of the majority. If the British people show their government, and the international community at large, that this is an acceptable practice then I think there will be many side effects that cannot be fully understood from our perspective. It's basically a free check to any political organization to blatantly act against the wishes of a majority of it's population. If they can do that without recourse then there will be a stigma of non-compliance that will follow in reference to the wishes of the populous of that country. It's not a questions as to if it's legal to do it. It's a question as to the precedence it sets for the government to ignore the wills of the people.