This is why businesses and the financial community – clinging on to the possibility of remaining in the EU – need to listen carefully to the social discontent behind Britain's anti-EU vote.

Britain's 'Leave' voters, whose concerns have been ignored by politicians, corporates and the banks for far too long, have ignored all warnings of the economic damage that Brexit could cause. Now they have proved their vote is powerful enough to have serious consequences for corporates.

The remain scenarios

Earlier in the week, one of the journalists voicing doubts over whether the Brexit referendum would actually lead to an exit was Financial Times chief foreign affairs commentator, Gideon Rachman. He argues that we've been here before – with the Danish referendum in 1991, which rejected the Maastricht treaty, and the Irish votes to reject the Nice treaty in 2001 and the Lisbon treaty in 2008. Rachman wrote: “I realised that I have seen this film before. I know how it ends. And it does not end with the UK leaving Europe.”

The Economist has also been setting out a possible remain scenario, pointing out the shortcomings of any deal to exit the EU, which would be likely to fall short of the 'Leave' campaign's promises to the electorate (namely to limit immigration into the UK, save by not contributing to the EU budget, while maintaining the main benefits of access to the single market).

The consequences of back-peddling on Brexit

However, these potential 'remain' scenarios don't address the potential social consequences of back-peddling on Brexit. We've had ugly scenes of racial abuse on the streets of Britain as a result of the 'leave' vote (the campaign for which focused on immigration). Who's to say the scenes would not have been worse if 'remain' had won? According to Britain's National Police Chiefs’ Council, there was a 57 per cent increase in racial hate crimes in the UK in the aftermath of the EU referendum. This – and the victory of the 'leave' vote itself – are reminders that social dissatisfaction and unrest are not far below the surface in the UK. The riots in London in August 2011 are still fresh in our minds. A large sector of Britain's population feel frustrated with the political establishment, the economy and austerity politics – and they have every right to feel that way.

Why the 'Leave' vote matters

Britain's future political leaders will have to appease not just a distinctly unimpressed European Union, but they will also have to find a way of restoring prosperity, hope, jobs and investment to the disillusioned sections of society. And yet, from the financial and corporate sector's point of view, this latter point should not be missed. Rather, it should be treated very seriously. Because businesses need sustainable and stable societies and politics, which the European Union contributes towards in many ways. If large swathes of the electorate vote against this, then that becomes everyone's business.