The Brexit vote was basically rural England telling London to shove it. "You wanted to be a cosmopolitan world city, but if us old people in the county don't like what we see, you can't have it."
As an analogy, imagine if the people in California that voted for Proposition 8 got really upset about the Supreme Court overruling them, and didn't like all the non-native Californians immigrating to SF and LA, so they voted to secede.
Don't get me wrong, I live in London, and I didnt vote 'Leave' but I can fully understand the frustrations of a domestic populace whose voice in their own country is ever increasingly marginalised.
Britain isn't the US - we're not (and I apologise in advance to the indigineous 'Indian' populations of North America) an 'immigrant country', despite what some people might suggest when they mention a few thousand Hugenots popping over for a few decades, hundreds of years ago.
It's not in our culture so therefore who is right to say it should be?
The UK has been bad for the EU in general. Don't get me wrong, the EU has its share of supporting wars, supporting the US (and hence more wars), but the UK is a huge piece of that. It's part of the five eyes and the hegemony.
The GPB has been horribly overvalued for years. It's bullshit the UK gets so much leverage in the EU, yet they refuse to adopt the currency and refuse to be part of the Schengen Area (which combined with their high GPB value ensures they make a shit-ton off long term backpackers; most countries get 120 days of tourism in the UK, but only 90 per 180 in the Schengen Area).
It's a two year exit process. I'm sure the UK will make new work/visa agreements so many living abroad can still do so (and if not, well you have 2 years to see if you can get a visa), but I don't see it being reverse. It was a voter initiative. That's not something you can neg on.
Scotland has talked about independence and it's often been viewed in the same light as the UK leaving the EU. But now that the later has been shown as possible, maybe it's time to finally break up this weird not-really-a-country country.
I think before people blame the voters for being misinformed or illogical, it's useful to question why our current economic and political system would push people towards fear, nationalism and xenophobia. Wealth inequality is probabaly a big part.
Now the feeling is mutual.
"London should" ? I know several people (Londoners) who would retort "London reliably votes for Labour. If they were in power there would be more redistribution, rural people don't vote for their own best interests, fools, etc."
You could argue that labour has been "neoliberal" and not very good at this lately; you cannot say that the Conservatives have been better.
The real problem arises when the needs of one side are only met through contributions from the other. That is complicated in this matter beyond the tax base of London.
Should be interesting to see, at the very least. Personally, I think much is overblown with regard to economic impacts. This strikes me as more about identity politics. Again, not uncommon these days.