Brexit or ‘taking back our country’ from European elites will only hand it over to domestic ones and turbo-charge their bonfire of union rights. Our labour will become more ‘flexible’ and we will be more fucked over.

There are 3 million EU migrant workers in the UK, many of them working in manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and hospitality. Hospitality is the fourth biggest employer in the UK,  – 70% of whom are migrant workers. It is also the most precarious and un-unionised with just 3.6% belonging to a union. Hotel housekeeping departments are mainly staffed by Eastern European women workers (pdf). Boris Johnson cannot wipe his butt in the morning without the help of a migrant woman worker.

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So why should we care what happens to ‘them’? Because what happens to them, in terms of access to employment rights and agency to challenge exploitation, will happen to us.

Anti-immigrant fervour paved the way for the introduction of NHS fees for migrants through the Immigration Act 2014. Under tabloid-stoked banners of ending ‘health tourism’, the NHS now has a legal and administrative framework for a charging health care system. You don’t need to be a genius to work out who else this will be rolled out to – everyone.

Could we see a work permit or insurance system (migrant tax) introduced as a means of disincentivizing people from coming to work here? Or even a Danish style ‘workfare for refugees’ model where refugees are paid less than Danish citizens, on Apprentice rates, with corporations paid to take them on and keep them on for two years. In some cases accommodation is tied to employment (this is reminiscent of pre-EU accession conditions for exploited Eastern European migrant workers but can be prevalent for any worker with no legal status to work and who is dependent on Gangmasters). Whilst named an ‘integration’ measure, the Danish initiative is also exploitative and could act as a deterrent to migration.

Those pushing hardest for Lexit are not going to be hardest hit by it. When migrant workers are the pawn in this game of EU and domestic class control, voting for a move which will exclude them, and normalise restrictions on their rights, will not encourage their participation in a political process – a left wing alternative – which needs to include them as a part of the whole UK working class. Lexit only resonates with certain parts of that class – those with employment, language and immigration status advantages.

Collective working class organisation and defence against exploitation has been aided by EU membership. There are 70 employment directives enforced in the UK through the European Court of Justice. Many benefit women – three quarters of the UK part time workforce. Equal paid holiday rights, unpaid leave to take care of children and, given the previous Coalition government wanted to cap compensation in sex and race discrimination claims but was prevented by the ECJ, the right to a workplace safer from sexism.