Over the last 15 years, South American governments and regional organisations have adopted an expansive discourse about migration that entails welcoming all migrants and promoting the free movement rights of foreigners.

If not, and the vote is to exit, it will be no good saying afterwards that “we didn’t understand what we were voting for” – the repeated complaint made by eurosceptics about the 1975 Referendum. By then it will be too late.

As the debate on immigration in the UK becomes increasingly visceral, British science risks being caught in the crossfire. / Over the past few years, there has been rising concern in the academic community that Britain's tough stance on immigration is putting off the most talented foreign scientists and driving them to competing nations.