Throughout the early months of 2016 in the runup to the EU referendum in June, immigration was just about the hottest topic being pushed by VoteLeave and the Brexiteers. Campaigners went with slogans that stated ‘we want our country back’ and spent many interview hours and column inches on the idea that Brexit was the only way to control immigration.

June 2016 was a tense time and very divisive. Anti-immigrant rhetoric caused a spike in race-based assaults and hate crimes.

Wind forward to 2022, in the middle of global events that threaten a recession and it would be unthinkable that a greater number of foreign nationals were entering the UK than before the referendum. Strangely enough, this is quite likely what will happen this year.

The FT reports that – “At the end of 2021 there were 9.6mn people living in Britain who were born overseas or 14.5 per cent of the population. During the same year, almost one million visas were issued to people seeking to come and work, study or live in the UK. All of these figures are the highest they have ever been.”

Where are the loud voices of Brexit who campaigned to stop immigration to the tens of thousands? Where is the outrage from the 52 per cent who voted to take control of our borders?

The reality is that the year before the EU referendum, immigration or indeed the EU itself was not high on the list of concerns by the voting population. This was political rhetoric stoked up to create a false narrative.

This is evidenced by the fact that one of the most striking dynamics since the Brexit result was announced has been the decline of concern about immigration. Indeed, the actual number of immigrants being granted visas and entering the UK is almost non-existent in the right-wing press.

In 2012, just 20 per cent of voters were concerned about immigration. In 2000, it was 12 per cent. But by 2016 it had risen to 47 per cent. Today, the percentage of voters concerned about immigration is just 9 per cent.