It's worth saying that the UK has essentially no long-standing history of direct plebiscite / national referendum as a democratic process. Ironically, the first

It's worth saying that the UK has essentially no long-standing history of direct plebiscite / national referendum as a democratic process. Ironically, the first I'm aware of was the 1975 vote on EC membership. You're right that there was no referendum for the Treaty of Maastricht which formally created "the European Union", but I think that places undue significance on that single event in terms of the trajectory of the European communities. Personally, I don't think the Brexit referendum was unfair (what does that even mean?). I do think that "the Brexit that was voted for" (i.e. the Leave platform) was quite different from "the Brexit that we got", and I therefore have some sympathy with those who ask for another vote. Whether the difference between the two versions of Brexit is down to deliberate lies, misunderstanding of the scope and complexity, wrong expectations about the ease of concluding agreements with trade partners, I cannot even begin to guess.