I'm not a politician or civil servant, I shouldn't be expected to know (unlike them) - to be honest I'm not sure what the best way out of this is - I just don't think a second referendum (as in Scotland for independence) will solve it. If we'd had a second referendum in 2016 between the different leave options (accepting leave was happening), it could have gone so much smoother (not guaranteed, but likely). Wouldn't have annoyed Brexiteers as much of remain wasn't an option, and unlike now I think they could have got away with that then!
Democracy - if we win, that's it, if you win we do it again and again until we get the result we want - doesn't sound like democracy does it?
Regarding that last sentence, democracy is exactly that. If a previous decision to do something starts to cause problems & maybe even risks that were not previously seen or communicated properly, then absolutely we should be able to review the decision. It is worth re-noting at this time that referendum in this country are not legally binding mandates, they are advisory only. That the Conservative government chose to go ahead with the invocation of A50 was partly policy, partly vote scoring.
Leavers have long banged on about the 52% or 17.4 million voter's views being respected. And in normal circumstances I would agree, at the time of the result I personally felt that we should go ahead and leave . However the absolute cluster-you-know-what that has been the negotiations, economic, & political impacts means that I now feel that there simply wasn't enough of a clear steer from the Leavers. Really this should have been addressed back in 2016, the referendum should have addressed the options & not just A50. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but however we must now address the situation as it is. Westminster has been unable to agree a deal, the public including leavers are deeply divided on how it should be done, and the political spectrum is in meltdown. So if a deal cannot be reached in the Houses, and a no-deal scenario is clearly going to be too damaging to the country, then tough decisions need to be made meaning we withdraw from A50, re-set a new, detailed referendum & restart A50 if a leave vote is still returned.
Whilst the option will deeply upset hard core leavers, I'm sorry to say the vanity project that has become Brexit is not enough reason to send this country into potentially decades of economic issues. If we are to leave the EU, it must be in an orderly, amicable, and most importantly mutually beneficial manner for both sides.