If there was going to be a referendum, then there should've been one on a clear, direct method of leaving the EU, i.e. either a referendum where Leavers argued for leaving the single market and implementing a hard border in Ireland, or one where they advocated retaining freedom of movement and simply leaving the EU in name only. The problem is, of course, that neither option would've won; the former would've been too extreme while the latter wouldn't have inspired anti-EU voters at all. The problem with what we got, though, was that it became a vote in which Leavers could project whatever meaning they desired onto the vote instead of something more definitive and concrete.