If the result of the EU referendum had been 52:48 in favour of Remain, there would have been no problem knowing who spoke for the losers. Ukip would be all over it and riding high in the polls by now. Both the Tories and Labour would have gone out of their way to indicate to the disappointed Brexiteers that they were taking their concerns seriously and had a place for them in their parties.
Under those circumstances, the Liberal Democrats might well have ceased to exist as a political force, since it’s hard to see what their point would be if the liberal establishment were still in power but frantically seeking to accommodate its opponents. A Remain win that put paid to the Lib Dems and breathed new life into Ukip would have replicated the outcome of the independence vote in Scotland in 2014, which destroyed Labour and empowered the SNP. The Scottish Nationalists have shown exactly what can be done by channelling the energy of the losers in a referendum that promised a change that never quite came. “One more push” is a potent battle cry.
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