Brexit has been a reality check. The average person simply doesn't realise how unsustainable the current economic situation is for Western countries, not just the UK.
Costs are too high (high wages and strong currency) to be able to manufacture most products here, so the manufacturing is off-shored, and we import much more than we export (including services). As a result there is a massive trade imbalance between imports and exports, and the gap is essentially plugged by debt. Debt levels are massive and growing rapidly. This is only possible because of fractional reserve banking and FIAT currency (backed by nothing), but it cannot continue forever.
Brexit has devalued the UK pound, so it's given exporters a boost as UK made products can be sold more competitively to overseas markets. It's also made imports a bit more expensive, which means people are more likely to buy UK made items, holiday in the UK, and tourism from overseas has increased sharply. It also means inflation has increased to around the BoE target of 2% so this has boosted consumer spending (many regions are flirting with deflation which is very hard to turn around once you have it take hold). The UK even recorded it's first trade surplus in 15 years in June. So it's in many ways been positive so far.
Unfortunately here the Brexit campaign was toxic with both sides spreading lies and fear. Most liberal-leaning media used simple psychology and just made out the whole campaign to be about race, essentially saying "you are racist if you vote leave". Many people lapped this up, and will claim anyone who voted 'leave' is racist - ironically generalising someone based on their voting decision just like a racist would based on someones race!
Ultimately people need to look at the bigger picture, and that is that Western countries are operating like someone who is living well beyond their means and just stacking up credit card debt, loans etc. This works up to the point where you can't pay back what you owe!..
