The first and obvious problem is that there is no clear majority for the next course of action as there is no majority for a no-deal or for May's deal and a second referendum doesn't seem particularly necessary to ordinary people at this point. At 52/48 majority, you could argue that the result of the referendum is '
unfinished business', at least, that was the view of Nigel Farage in 2016 had Remain won by that same margin. But, a second referendum gives everyone a say on the matter, and what the Government could do is propose a two-stage referendum. Arguing with Grendel and Sir Ernie has actually helped me come to this point, so credit to them but it solves their grievances and mine. The first referendum is a simple Remain v Leave, and if Leave wins a referendum, the second referendum would be on May's deal vs no-deal. Even if Leave won again, people who voted Remain will at least get the opportunity to choose the direction of Brexit. In this scenario, Remainers won't be able to argue they were dragged into Brexit as they would've at least had the consolation of choosing their poison, so to speak. For Leavers, they get to go away and choose to either reject the deal and go for no deal. If the electorate voted to Remain, then it's clear the support for Brexit had declined and no longer the 'will of the people'. In fact, the argument for a second referendum is best put by a Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg, who said:
“we could have two referendums. As it happens it might make more sense to have the second referendum after the renegotiation is completed” in the House of Commons in 2011. In 2016, the electorate voted on the concept of remaining or leaving the EU, not the mechanics of what that entailed, so it makes perfect sense to hold a referendum after the treaty was renegotiated. I accidentally came across the idea of the two-stage referendum in reply to Grendel and Sir Ernie but Vernon Bogdanor (a professor at KCL who specialises in Government) makes the better argument in the Guardian -- search at your own leisure. There will be some divisions because someone stands to lose in this process, but the alternative of not putting the question back to the people is worse in my view because there's not even a majority of what people want between May's deal and no-deal, so the mandate is weak, in my view.
Now, the bigger problem at hand is the crisis in Government at present, the average person doesn't really know about the mechanics of Parliament and we're headed for a storm next week. The Government has just lost two bills in two days, one was a finance bill, which a Government hasn't lost since 1978 (my mum was 6 then), for those of you posters who remember the 70s will remember the crisis in UK politics at that point. Parliament is dead set on blocking a no deal scenario (which again, the electorate may need to step in here), and is about to reject May's deal so legally, Brexit is at risk here. The Parliamentary vote on the 15th is huge and if May loses that vote, it causes a lot of problems because the government would have lost the confidence of Parliament. In short, it's position is untenable and cannot continue to govern, and therefore, carry out Brexit.
In the event of May losing this parliamentary vote, cabinet ministers will resign. Second, Labour has said they will 'immediately' table a motion of no-confidence in the Government, and there's a good chance the Government will lose -- the Government has at least 20 MPs willing to break ranks. This will trigger another election because there's no viable alternative government-in-waiting. If May resigns, a new Conservative leader will have to be elected, but they will have no mandate to govern so an election is necessary. Meanwhile, Brexit will have to be delayed because the time it takes to organise an election, the deadline of 29th March will either have been passed, or there would be no time for a new government to do anything with regards to Brexit. Just today, Labour have said they back delaying Brexit. Based on polling now, Labour would probably win the popular vote, but the polls are neck and neck so the Tories could well win again. Either way, a majority for either party is unlikely and we're basically in the same scenario with a new PM and/or new party in government.
With the government physically unable to carry out the result of 2016, it will have to defer to the electorate yet again in another referendum. The alternative is crashing out without a deal and there simply isn't a majority for that option, and I highly doubt the Government, or indeed Parliament (if the Government is willing) to go through with that without a referendum.
I'm past debating the concept of a second referendum, whether it's right or wrong, the political climate at this moment will make it an inevitability because the Government and Parliament are broken and only the electorate can break the deadlock with a referendum because a GE won't change the scenario at hand. It's better than the alternatives.
Rees-Mogg has history of backing second EU referendums
Nigel Farage wants second referendum if Remain campaign scrapes narrow win