The roots of Brexit

FEW, if any, of the main drivers of Brexit had much to do with Europe, in Kerr’s opinion. First and foremost is “the way the British political machine and successive governments tended to connive with Fleet Street in presenting Brussels as a place of endless battles and ambushes, that Britain was alone against these horrible continentals”.

In fact, he says “we were the most influential state in Brussels. We had more influence on the commission than any other member state, the single market was divised by Margaret Thatcher – but ministers liked to pretend that it was a struggle between the forces of light, the British, and the forces of darkness on the continent”.

Then there’s immigration. “Political elites underestimated the effects of immigration on particular bits of the country. Although immigration is very good for the country, it clearly puts strains on health, education and housing, and that was ruthlessly exploited by the Leave campaign.

“People’s concern wasn’t with young people from Poland coming to earn some money and then go home, it was more with immigration from India and Pakistan, and there was that nasty link made between Muslim immigration and a terrorist threat – a false link in my view.

“EU membership doesn’t in any way restrain what our immigration rules are in respect of non-EU