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"The UK is not a democracy."

It is a form of democracy. It's a parliamentary democracy. The people still get to choose their government. The crown is the head of state, not the head of government and by law (in the UK) can have no say in the government. Yes in days gone by parlimentary governments prime ministers were chosen by the crown and then told to form a government but those days are long passed. I'm sure in the real world if the queen wants something done she can whisper in the PM's ear and have things done, but by law she cannot do it.

As to whether they should have held a referendum, I personally am not in favor of referendums in general. I'm glad my state does not allow that. I don't like direct democracy because I think the passions of the people end up making bad policy and bad laws. What should have happened (IMO) is that a party should have been formed around that as the main issue or the Tories should have adopted that as their platform for when they next stood for election. However, they did hold the referendum and if a government is to have any legitimacy it must follow through on the results of that referendum.

>> It is a form of democracy. It's a parliamentary democracy. The people still get to choose their government. The crown is the head of state, not the head of government and by law (in the UK) can have no say in the government. Yes in days gone by parlimentary governments prime ministers were chosen by the crown and then told to form a government but those days are long passed. I'm sure in the real world if the queen wants something done she can whisper in the PM's ear and have things done, but by law she cannot do it. As to whether they should have held a referendum, I personally am not in favor of referendums in general. I'm glad my state does not allow that. I don't like direct democracy because I think the passions of the people end up making bad policy and bad laws. What should have happened (IMO) is that a party should have been formed around that as the main issue <<

Ummm, a party WAS formed around that as the main issue. They're the UKIP. In fact, that was their ONLY issue. They didn't win any seats in parliment but they pressured the "major" parties to act on the issue, and the result was Brexit.