Revel Barker appears to write, in part, about an imagined golden era in Britain when it was okay to use abusive language about immigrants and deride their contribution to the country.

He dismisses the concerns of EU migrants in the UK, post referendum, as exaggerated or non-existent and also appears to dismiss the younger generation, who are more in favour of EU membership, as only interested in cheap socialising abroad.

He fails to mention the  more than one million or so Britons who work or study in the EU, or the fact that the Erasmus study scheme  has seen an increase in UK applicants exceeding 115 per cent since its inception in 2007.

In truth, a lot of people in the UK voted to leave the EU on some vague promise of taking back control and reducing migration.

Neither were  fully explained to the electorate and, indeed, the ideas of sovereignty and free movement were misrepresented by people such as Nigel Farage.

Barker maintains the UK is open and welcoming.

He clearly missed some of the EU debates or disgusting  comments by readers on British mainstream media websites. Did he also miss the embarrassing spectacle of Farage goading fellow MEPs?

If I were a migrant looking at the UK, I don’t think open and welcoming would be a phrase that would spring to mind.

In Britain, it is often claimed that membership of the EU prevents the government from maintaining  any control over migrants. In fact, European Commission rules allow member states to enforce registration after three months and can require applicants to provide proof of work, income and a place of study, plus health insurance if self-sufficient. It also allows for the issue of identity cards.

Malta and other EU countries avail themselves of this right but not the UK, which I find baffling in view of Britain’s constant voicing of concern regarding migration.