A London-based group made up of musicians of eight different nationalities took to the stage in Brighton Dome’s sister venue a few hours after The Immigration Debate.

Ibibio Sound Machine’s fun mash-up of Afrobeat and disco, funk and soul, would fit squarely in the “cultural and intellectual renaissance” produced by immigration and hailed by journalist David Aaronovitch as the phenomenon’s great benefit.

Slavery expert Dr Madge Dresser, who struggled to get a word in for much of an engaging discussion, pulled him up. “Immigration is not experienced the same by people everywhere. It’s easy for David to wax lyrical where there is no competition for school places and low unemployment.”

Here – and everywhere – Nigel Farage’s name appeared like a baddie in a pantomime. Aaronovitch reminded us we have a choice. Farage is “old-fashioned”. He hasn’t grasped people can speak two languages.

Director of the Sussex Centre for Migration Research, Professor Paul Statham believes immigration is a fact not a choice, and former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Trevor Phillips gave the example of Japan to prove it is optional. The Japanese economy has struggled over the past 30 years because of a lack of diversity in the workforce. When asked if they would accept immigration to kickstart growth, the Japanese people preferred poverty and purity rather than Korean migrants.

Statham, a man of hard facts, lamented politicians’ dependency on opinion polls. “Most people have no idea about the numbers of immigrants or the race of immigrants,” he said.

Our choice about immigration might be improved if politicians concentrated on facts rather than hyperbole bred by opinion polls.

Towards the end, Phillips, authoritative throughout, left us with a nugget worth taking away.

Britain’s population is due to increase to 80 million over the next 30 years. Most of the increase will be immigrants and the children of immigrants.

What happens when a political party has in its core vote up to 40% non-white voters, of which many are religious? And what will it mean for the country when these new immigrants have a serious political voice?