Guardian columnist Denis MacShane has highlighted Spain as an example of a tolerant and welcoming country – whose economy benefits from openness to foreigners.

Championing the need to see immigrants as ’semigrants’ in the UK and elsewhere, he highlighted the mutually beneficial Spanish arrangement, where Brits were welcomed into the country and subsequently prosper.

UK property-seekers have embraced the facility of setting up in Spain, with destinations like the Costa del Sol unrivalled in holiday and home-seeking popularity; an arrangement which could serve as an example to other European countries.

Mr MacShane wrote: "Spain has 750,000 British citizens living and working happily there. Are they "immigrants"? That is not how the Spanish press describe them. The mass arrival of Brits in Spain is seen as a normal aspect of living in an open Europe."

"They are not immigrants in the traditional sense but European citizens helping to grow and sustain UK businesses or keeping the Spanish property market ticking over," he added.

Spain was recently revealed to be the European country with the highest percentage of immigrants – a spirit of openness which for many is seen to sustain the country’s economic growth above the Eurozone average.