The anti-immigration tactics being used by the Leave campaign in the EU referendum amount to a “divide and rule trick”, Yanis Varoufakis has said.

The former Greek finance minister – who faced down EU institutions in his previous job negotiating with the Troika – said the British establishment was trying to use fear of immigrants to distract from the effects of austerity.

“Lest we forget: turning the native poor against migrant labour is a variant of the old divide and rule trick that the British establishment honed ages ago to dominate the empire,” he said.

“Today the establishment uses the same trick to dominate the domestic natives to hide austerity’s effects and to defect anger towards the ‘other’ – the migrant, the foreigner.”

The warning comes as the Leave campaign ramps up its anti-immigration rhetoric in a bid to deliver victory in next month's referendum.

Boris Johnson this week said the only way migration could be reduced was by leaving the EU, branding his own party's policy on the issue at the last election 'cynical'.

Organisers of the Leave campaign have previously been reticent to focus on immigration because they fear focusing on the issue could alienate the swing voters needed to win.

With phone polls showing the Remain campaign with a significant lead, however, a change of course has been noticable in recent days.

Boris Johnson said last week the only way to reduce immigration was to leave the EU (PA)

Mr Varoufakis made his comments at the UK launch of his new project calling for more democracy in the EU, DiEM25 (Democracy in Europe Movement 2025).

He explained that though he had himself come to blows with the EU institutions in his previous job, he supported Britain remaining a member of the EU because he feared what its disintegration would herald.

The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit Show all 7 1 /7 The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 22 May 2015 In his regular column in The Express Nigel Farage utilised the concerns over Putin and the EU to deliver a tongue in cheek conclusion. “With friends like these, who needs enemies?” PA The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 13 November 2015 UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire Mike Hookem, was one of several political figures who took no time to harness the toxic atmosphere just moments after Paris attacks to push an agenda. “Cameron says we’re safer in the EU. Well I’m in the centre of the EU and it doesn’t feel very safe.” Getty Images The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 19 April 2016 In an article written for The Guardian, Michael Gove attempts to bolster his argument with a highly charged metaphor in which he likens UK remaining in the EU to a hostage situation. “We’re voting to be hostages locked in the back of the car and driven headlong towards deeper EU integration.” Rex The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 26 April 2016 In a move that is hard to decipher, let alone understand, Mike Hookem stuck it to Obama re-tweeting a UKIP advertisement that utilises a quote from the film: ‘Love Actually’ to dishonour the US stance on the EU. “A friend who bullies us is no longer a friend” The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 10 May 2016 During a speech in London former work and pensions secretary Ian Duncan Smith said that EU migration would cause an increasing divide between people who benefit from immigration and people who couldn’t not find work because of uncontrolled migration. “The European Union is a ‘force for social injustice’ which backs the ‘haves rather than the have-nots.” EPA The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 15 May 2016 Cartoon character Boris Johnson made the news again over controversial comments that the EU had the same goal as Hitler in trying to create a political super state. “Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically.” “The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods.” PA The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 16 May 2016 During a tour of the women’s clothing manufacturer David Nieper, Boris had ample time to cook up a new metaphor, arguably eclipsing Gove’s in which he compares the EU to ‘badly designed undergarments.’ “So I just say to all those who prophecy doom and gloom for the British Business, I say their pants are on fire. Let’s say knickers to the pessimists, knickers to all those who talk Britain down.” Getty Images

“Will the European Union’s disintegration cause progressive democrats to rise across Europe?” he asked rhetorically.

“To empower their parliaments, to usher in the forces of light and hope, and to usher in the harmonious cooperation between Europeans? Not likely.”

Mr Varoufakis also lamented the state of the current EU referendum debate, warning that as an economist he believed “the statistics on both sides are not worth the paper they’re written on”.

Last September the former Syriza MP warned that in turn, austerity itself was cover for class war against the poorest in society.

Mr Varoufakis, a former professor of economics, came to prominence during the Greek sovereign debt crisis when he led Greece’s negotiating team seeking a resolution with its international creditors.

On Saturday he described this episode, with resulted in almost no concessions to Greece, as a “complete failure” on his part.