Leave was indeed voted for. But the vote was advisory, not mandatory.
There has been a hell of a lot of lying and scare-mongering around the EU and referendum.
And indeed before then about the EU.
This has succeeded in turning people against these nasty, faceless EU bureaucrats who have introduced stupid laws like you can't grow curvy cucumbers or bananas, the banning of teasmades because they could injure people. They have also changed the definition of an island and are set to introduce black boxes into cars.
(All false, by the way).
And there are certain people in this country who want to turn people against the EU by any means possible, including lying and disinformation (remember Boris' kipper?) because there is one particular directive that they don't want this country to be forced to abide by.
There are many injustices in our society. One of the biggest concerns taxes. The whole point of taxes is that everybody (above a certain level of earning) should pay a tax on those earnings. The hoi polloi in this country generally pay their dues. The wealthy minority and massive corporations generally go to great, convoluted lengths to pay as little as possible.
And they want it to stay that way. They do not want to be subject to the Anti Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD), which was adopted by EU Council three days before the EU Membership Referendum.
And BJ is hell-bent on getting Brexit by any means possible (lying to the Queen, threatening MP's etc...) so that this can happen.
The Brexit deal May hammered out had ATAD in it, which is why it was rejected.