A GERMAN woman living in London has warned her compatriots not to speak their native language if they visit the city.

In a development highlighting a growing sense of xenophobia and intolerance, lawyer Carmen Prem advised her fellow countrymen and women not speak their own language when they go out with their children in the English capital.

Her claims appeared in the newspaper Die Welt yesterday under the headline “Foreigners feel a strong xenophobia in the UK since the EU referendum and describe their reactions.”

The piece went on to say there is now “a new bitterness, an anger which hardly any of the countless non-British on the island expected”.

Prem, a mother of two who has lived in London for 13 years, told the paper: “If you are out with the children, maybe don’t speak German too loudly at the moment.”

She went to say a bus driver had recently ordered passengers to “kindly speak English” on her way home from work and that London’s mood had altered since the Leave vote.

“The tone has changed,” she said. “No Briton would ever say ‘we do not want you here’.

“But it is now ‘we and you’.”

In the same article, German professor Mischa Dohler, who works at King’s College London, said he was seriously considering moving abroad.

The academic said he had received countless job offers and had turned down a role at Cambridge University because of uncertainty following the Brexit vote.

He said: “Many non-British academics simply see no future here.”

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Professor Paul Bishop, of the School of Modern Languages and Culture at the University of Glasgow, said: “I think this article shows a sense of concern about how Britain appears to people living here.

“What I would like to know is whether this xenophobia has arisen after the referendum result or whether it was there before and this is now coming to the surface?”

A demand to curb immigration from the EU was a key demand in the Leave campaign which won the overall vote across the UK, though lost in Scotland by 62 per cent to 38 per cent.

Since the result, the Tories have ramped up the arguments to curb immigration. Home Secretary Amber Rudd announced plans to publish list of foreign workers and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced plans to replace medics born overseas with British born doctors and nurses.

The debate has been further fuelled by the refusal of the UK Government to give assurances to EU nationals living in the UK that their status during the Brexit process is protected.

At the Tory party conference this month International Trade Secretary Liam Fox indicated the immigration status of people from the EU who live in Britain would be “one of our main cards” in Brexit negotiations and so could not be guaranteed.

Joan McAlpine, the SNP MSP and convener of Holyrood’s Europe committee, said: “The abuse of EU nationals is absolutely revolting and unacceptable.

“The lead comes from the top at Westminster if you look at the xenophobic rhetoric coming from the Tories with Amber Rudd’s list of foreign workers, Liam Fox’s claim to use EU nationals a bargaining chips in the negotiations and Jeremy Hunt’s plans to replace foreign doctors with British-born ones. This approach is in contrast to that taken by the First Minister who has made clear that EU nationals are welcome here.”

She added: “While we should not be complacent I believe the excellent example shown by the First Minister has meant there have not been the same level of incidents in Scotland.”

Around three million EU citizens live in the UK, including 173,000 in Scotland. But despite having a profound impact on their lives none were allowed to vote in the EU referendum.