EU referendum, brexit and the aftermath

We don't have a presidential system, we elect parties and the conservative party has a mandate still fresh after a year. The leave vote had over 17 million votes, being the largest mandate for anything ever in the uk and it's not like the british population (in particular the young, connected under 25 bracket) were not aware of the referendum taking place

The Conservative Party only received 11m votes at the general election, a win so slim that it only amounted to 36.9% of the vote share, on a turnout of only 66%.

That is hardly a "mandate" for anything. But whatever it was could reasonably be interpreted as a mandate for whatever was the basis of the campaign.

The Conservative campaign was for an In/Out Referendum, and for the UK to clear the deficit by the end of the term.

The first has been achieved, and the latter has been obliterated by the result of that referendum (George Osbourne has already acknowledged this).

If then... the "mandate" is "votes for, the will of the people for us to do blah", and blah is achieved or not applicable, and the votes were not even a majority... what then is left of the mandate for the current government? Especially when the leader that people believed would be in power after the election has already gone.

And if we turn to the referendum, a mandate is surely a will, an authority granted... it speaks of decisiveness, of a common will and purpose... not of a 51.9% vs 48.1% result.

The difference is smaller than the number of people who voted for the Lib Dems in the general election.

That's tiny, and is hardly a mandate for anything.

If the referendum were split 50/50, and the difference was one vote... just one, Derek's vote (no idea who Derek is). Would that have delivered a mandate? Is a single vote a mandate for anything?

What difference is enough to say that one has a mandate? The Conservatives don't even have the majority of the public vote, and yet claim a mandate... so can one have a mandate on a minority of the vote?

The whole mantra, and idea, of a mandate and the subtle phrasing of "implicit mandate" is vile. The only response is that both the Conservative government today, and the Leave camp today, do not have a "legitimate mandate".

Why? Because little to none of the promises of the Leave camp can be delivered (if they haven't already been wiped as lies), and little to none of what is left of the platform that was the Conservative Party campaign for the general election remains either.

The very basis upon which people voted for both the Conservatives and Leave has either been fulfilled or isn't valid (times are different now, or the campaigns lied tremendously).

No-one, except for the SNP, currently has a legitimate mandate for anything.

As times are different now, and nothing that preceded the referendum result looked beyond the result or how to handle a Leave win, the government certainly does not have a mandate.