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In the United States we require super majorities to amend the Constitution. 2/3 of Congress and 3/4 of the state legislatures.

Something as important as Brexit should require more than 50.1% to pass. But it was actually non-binding anyway so the government could just ignore it.

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The referendum was enacted as part of an elected party's manifesto that promised to implement the result.

After the election, parties voted to enact Article 50.

After enacting Article 50, the parties that campaigned in the following general election on a promise to implement the decision to leave were overwhelmingly successful.

Ignoring the referendum would have been a poor decision.

If that applied, then major changes to the structure of the European Union such as Maastricht or the Lisbon treaty should also have required the >50% vote.

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