Remember when Ukip councillor Terence Nathan said this: “Time to start killing these people till Article 50 is invalid, perhaps Remainers will get the message then”?

Or how about Tory councillor Christian Holliday with his petition calling for the Treason Felony Act to be amended to make supporting UK membership of the EU a crime? That's a policy which would put someone like me at risk of life in jail, although I’d hardly be alone. Holliday never explained how he planned to accommodate millions of people behind bars.

These statements were largely met with contempt and ridicule, while the people who made them were treated as fringe, slightly unhinged individuals best ignored. But should they have been?

We have, after all, just witnessed the trial of an unhinged character after an isolated incident, one that ended in the brutal murder of MP Jo Cox.

Meanwhile Paul “the punch was the best thing that happened to UKIP” Nuttall has been glowering at Remainers, in the wake of his election to replace Nigel Farage as leader of Ukip, while that man-baby poster boy for the party tours the media in a laughable attempt to play the victim.

He claims to have been in receipt of threats but it is not Farage - who has himself repeatedly threatened violence should he not get his own way and bears a heavy burden of responsibility for the coarsening of debate in the UK - who has reason to feel concern. It is, instead, those of us who wanted to say in Europe and who don’t have option of following Farage across the Atlantic where his best bud has just been elected President (come to think of it, America’s welcome to him). The rest of us are largely stuck in the country where the Governing Conservative Party shows every sign of trying to out “alt-right” Farage by careering into Brexit’s lunatic fringe, ignoring the fact that Brexit was only backed by a small majority of those who voted in the EU referendum. They are a minority of the population at large.

Those of us who voted remain have not quite been rendered stateless by the behaviour of our opponents, and those like Prime Minister Theresa May who have the adopted the zealotry of converts. Not quite. But it is starting to feel that way.

Fortunately, Europe has been discussing an answer for Europeans of British extraction, which would involve the extension of some form of “associate citizenship” once withdrawal is complete, perhaps for a fee.

The idea has won the backing of former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, who has made himself a champion of the rights of the 48 per cent who voted remain, and goodness me do we need one.

You only need to look at the people upset by it to recognise what a good idea it is.

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen characterised it as an attempt to create two classes of British citizen and a trick to stop the UK from leaving the EU. I do sometimes wonder where the Tory Party finds people like him, and how sensible voters feel able to put a cross against their name on the ballot paper. Andrew, this is simply an attempt to stop you committing an act of political violence upon your countrymen by removing their European citizenship from them, something you have no moral right to do. There’s no compunction on you to sign up. It doesn’t stop you from realising your ugly Brexit dreams. Are you really trying to suggest that you don’t have the intelligence to realise that?

Brexit Concerns Show all 26 1 /26 Brexit Concerns Brexit Concerns Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs Brexit will put British patients at the “back of the queue” for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned – forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA – because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice. Getty Images Brexit Concerns London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks One of Germany’s top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as “gateway to Europe” for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the Bundesbank—Germany’s central bank—told a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were “equivalent” between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still “miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market”, the BBC reports. Jason Hawkes Brexit Concerns Exodus The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union Shutterstock Brexit Concerns Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEO’s performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterling’s fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors. Rex Brexit Concerns Theresa May: UK to leave single market Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all". Getty Brexit Concerns Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court Getty Brexit Concerns Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais Getty Brexit Concerns Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Brexit Concerns The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today EPA Brexit Concerns Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain Reuters Brexit Concerns Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry Getty Brexit Concerns Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote PA Brexit Concerns The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging Getty Brexit Concerns Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities Getty Brexit Concerns A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses Getty Brexit Concerns Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes Getty Brexit Concerns A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU Getty Brexit Concerns Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum Getty Brexit Concerns Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU Getty Brexit Concerns NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit Getty Brexit Concerns The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future Getty Brexit Concerns A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain Reuters Brexit Concerns The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions Getty Brexit Concerns The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market Getty

Then there was Jayne Adye, director of the Get Britain Out campaign, who claimed that the EU was attempting to “divide the great British public at the exact moment we need unity”.

Jayne, it is you and your fellow travellers who have divided the British public. You have compounded that division since the referendum campaign. Or did I miss your rushing out to express your outrage when Messrs Nathan and Holliday and all their friends were busy spitting poison about Remainers on the interweb? For your information, many of us see ourselves as both British and European. We don’t see any conflict between the two identities, and nor should there be. May and her colleagues keep claiming that we plan to remain on friendly terms with Europe, after all.

The concept of dual nationality has, anyway, long been established in this country. Until quite recently, the New York born arch Brexiteer Boris Johnson had it.

Under today’s legal framework, the rather more substantial figure of Winston Churchill would similarly have been entitled to a US passport, through his American mother.

There is, therefore, no logical case for denying we British Europeans the right to retain our European citizenship at such time as the UK is no longer a member of the EU.

It is, in fact, rather important for the protection of our interests while we are living in a country whose politicians don’t appear to recognise that they exist.

As well as imposing responsibilities on those who retain that citizenship, it should also confer certain rights upon us beyond the right to work in Europe and, perhaps, the right vote in European elections. That would include the right to have our interests represented by and protected through our European citizenship if the UK Government seeks to deny them to us, as it shows every intention of doing.

Democracy demands that the 48 are allowed to retain their European citizenship after Brexit. If Bridgen and Adye could but see it, they might realise that there would some advantage to their supporting it.