Britain risks swapping hard-working Polish people for expats who have "retired into the sun" if Brexit goes ahead, a Labour MP has said.

Swansea West MP Geraint Davies also reiterated his backing for a second EU referendum on the terms of Brexit, as MPs debated a series of petitions on the subject.

In a wide-ranging debate in Westminster Hall, Mr Davies also took aim at Boris Johnson and his own party for their role in the referendum campaign.

But Eurosceptic Tory Philip Hollobone countered that Mr Davies was in the wrong job - and his pro-EU views would be better suited to the business section of BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

MPs debated six petitions around the subject of Brexit, ranging from calls for Article 50 to be triggered immediately through to one urging the Government not to invoke Article 50 at all.

There was even one calling for June 23 to be designated as Britain's Independence Day and be celebrated every year.

Mr Davies said it would be a "dreadful mistake" were Britain to leave the EU, adding: "Business and other service sectors simply don't know what's going to happen, and then of course in the community of people who are EU citizens it's a disaster, not just because xenophobia has been spun up and people are in the streets saying go home and all the rest of it.

"The economic facts are, the average EU citizen contributes 34% more in tax than she or he consumes in public services.

"So if we swap those people for retired Brits in Spain and France and whatever it is, we'll be swapping hard-working, tax-contributing working Polish people and all the rest of it, for people who retired into the sun who would be more of a cost on the health service."

He added: "We have a dreadful situation emerging. I realise, you know, some of the opponents of this who want independent Trump day, or whatever they want here.

"Some people still think this is going to be a great idea, Only Fools and Horses and all of that, it's fantastic.

"But the reality is, this is an issue of such immense strategic importance I think Parliament should look again, and not simply say 'that's what they said'."

Mr Davies also said Mr Johnson's "primary objective" for leading the Leave campaign was to become Tory leader - and suggested Labour could have done better at making the economic arguments to Remain.

"If the Labour Party and the leader of the Labour Party had done better at that, we might not have ended up where we are," he said.

However, Kettering MP Mr Hollobone told MPs: "I think he's in the wrong job.

"I'm sure he's an excellent Member of Parliament, but he hasn't understood the message of the 17.4 million who voted to Leave.

"I think he would be better suited having a job on the business section of the Today programme, because his first five minutes have been unremitting doom and gloom."

It was one of a number of frosty exchanges between Remain and Leave supporting MPs, with Andrea Jenkyns questioning why the SNP should be "the tail that wags the dog" when it comes to Britain's stance on Brexit.

The Tory MP for Morley and Outwood said Yorkshire had as big a population as Scotland and had voted decisively to Leave.