David Cameron has taken a hard-line stance with regards to the free movement of citizens within the European Community.

The Prime Minister’s position challenges a founding principle of the EU treaty to the extent other EU member states are suggesting, if need be, they would rather hold open the exit door for the UK than compromise freedom of movement.

This narrative comes at a time when a small number of senior UK politicians have openly resorted to emotive language, painting a picture of towns being “flooded” by immigrants and migration being the root cause of low wages and erosion of employment rights.

This populist rhetoric, by definition, seeks to appeal to the lowest common denominator of perceived political wisdom without context or balanced argument.

For example, who is aware that the UK is the single largest contributor to EU migration with 2.2 million British citizens enjoying the benefit of free movement, working and living on the continent?

On hearing that Brussels requires a £1.7 billion rebate, is it not important to counter that due to our membership the UK annually secures 20 per cent of all direct foreign investments into the EU to the tune of £40 billion?

When others engaged in irrational scaremongering linked to impending Bulgarian and Romanian full EU membership, the same column inches were not afforded to the research that concluded the number of migrants in the UK from these same Balkan countries had actually decreased as a result.

The argument that immigration has lowered wages fails to attribute that Government has unfettered statutory control in setting a UK minimum wage.

The failure of the Coalition to ensure wages remained in line with inflation, fuelled by policies that have contributed to the casualisation of the UK workforce, are responsible for wage suppression and loss of employment rights.

The counter argument to populist anti-European hyperbole needs to be articulated to ensure those who would scapegoat migrants or seek to blame all homegrown ills on Brussels are challenged.

David Cameron is playing a dangerous game of bluff and bluster with the weight of unintended consequences heavy on his shoulders. He once again finds himself and the UK on the periphery, without influence or allies within our largest market place.

Chris Watts, Labour Prospective MP for Devizes, Lansdowne Terrace, Devizes.