[soneil]

This exactly.

The goal of the brexit referendum was to catch the voters that were leaving the conservative party for the ukip party, and give them a reason to vote conservative again.

It wasn't expected to pass, it wasn't expected to be remotely close. It was expected to shore up the conservative party so they wouldn't be dragged into another coalition.

The wording of the referendum needs to be seen in that light. It was intended to give ukip voters what they wanted to hear. "should we think about talking about thinking about maybe doing something" wouldn't have achieved that goal.