You make some excellent observations Matt, and it’s certainly true that it’s far easier to blame others than to look inwards. However, that isn’t a reason for accepting EU exit as a fait accompli. It is perfectly legitimate to ask for a second referendum, to occur at the point at which negotiations on the terms of EU exit have been completed and we know exactly what the implications of leaving are.

In the meantime those who are pro-EU need to ask ourselves searching questions about how on earth we got into this mess in the first place. The Labour party has to accept much of the responsibility. Firstly for opposing proportional representation for purely party political gain. The UKs first-past-the-post system allowed the Conservatives to assume exclusive power on the back of 36.1% of the vote. Although it’s possible that with PR the Tories would have gone into coalition with UKIP, in all probability they would have allied themselves with the Liberal Democrats again and this shambles would never have happened in the first place.

The consequences of our quasi-democratic electoral system go beyond the vacillation between exclusive control by parties of the right and left — it has also informed policy decisions in a profound way. The received wisdom of politics in the UK is that for a political party to win power they have to appeal to Middle England, or at least a significant proportion of that amorphous entity that takes in London, South-East England and the more affluent parts of rural England. This political imperative has led the Labour party cynically using the votes of the populace of the poorest, post-industrial regions of the UK (Wales, the West Midlands and North-East England most obviously) as electoral fodder, whilst pandering exclusively to the economic interests of the most affluent parts of the UK. This has manifested itself in huge levels of infrastructure spend in London and the South-East, perfectly illustrated by Prime Minister Gordon’s Brown desperate gambit to appeal to Middle England voters by authorising £5 billion of Treasury funds on the London Crossrail project shortly before losing office. As a point of comparison the Welsh Assembly government is expected to finance essential M4 road improvements (a motorway that is two lanes only in part and the chief arterial route into South Wales) by up to £1 billion of borrowing. 
A government that seriously considered the needs of the poorest communities of the UK would have prioritised infrastructure spending on those communities, to give them the best opportunity to escape the downward spiral of lack of opportunity and despair that has led to this anti-politics vote. We needed and still need a New Deal type solution. The fact that the Labour party did next to nothing to prioritise spending in the areas from which it gains its greatest support is an abject betrayal. They have reaped the harvest that they have sown, with communities such as Blaenau Gwent (with a miniscule proportion of around 3% of its population of non-UK birth and net recipient of EU aid) taking an apparently perverse decision in giving 62% backing to Leave.

Labour cannot restore its credibility without owning up to its cynical exploitation of its core vote for party political gain at the expense of the long-term interests of the UK. But we shouldn’t wait for that to happen. Those who see the immense dangers in Britain leaving the EU have to seriously consider which party represents their view that offers the best opportunity of defeating this potentially catastrophic decision. That’s why I’m seriously considering switching my lifelong support from Plaid Cymru to the Liberal Democrats. There’s just too much at stake.

Within entirely constitutional and lawful means we have the right and indeed the responsibility to do everything we can to prevent Brexit.