A 'Leave' vote does not guarantee exit from EU

IF THE Brexiteers win the June 23 referendum, we still won't know the next day whether the United Kingdom will leave the European Union. The 2015 Referendum Act does not bind the government to the outcome. It's Parliament that's sovereign - not the administration.

Even if the government accepts the result, it still has to get the necessary legislation through both Houses of Parliament. As the then Labour government advised of the 1975 referendum on whether to stay in the Common Market: "The British Parliament in Westminster retains the final right to repeal the Act which took us into the Market on Jan 1, 1973."

If the result in two weeks is a landslide on a high turnout, the government could perhaps push exit through Parliament. But such an outcome is unlikely. Following a marginal victory on a low turnout, Prime Minister David Cameron could not get a Leave Act through, and probably wouldn't try.