The Leave campaign won the referendum battle—the question is now whether it can win the Brexit war. This is in doubt. Winning the referendum was not enough. The vote was not legally binding. This means that it was nothing more than a glorified consultation exercise. An expensive and politically significant one, but one also of no formal legal consequence.
This lack of legal consequence took many by surprise. David Cameron had said that the result would come into effect “straight away.” But that was back when the government was expecting to win.