Each morning I buy coffee in Pret. The staff are young, friendly and efficient, and speak English at least as well as I do. They are almost all from EU states and they are apparently on their way out. “You can serve in Pret if you are a 55-year-old,” said one government minister, anticipating that these roles will be filled by British workers after Brexit.

But not just yet. David Davis, the Brexit secretary, admitted this week that British workers would not be able to fill the jobs done by EU migrants for “years and years”, and hence that the UK would continue to admit low-skilled migrant workers in hospitality, agriculture and social care. Voluble Brexiteers like Arron Banks, the Ukip donor, are irate. And