Ahead of this coming week which will be awash with more numbers than the local bookie’s courtesy of the budget, there is one figure that must be shared with you now: and it’s 257,000. That’s the number of Britons who have decided ‘up with this we cannot put,’ and have left the country.

More tellingly it is, outside of the pandemic which skewed so much data, a record-high and makes the previous estimate by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) of 77,000 look as plausible as a promise to “Smash the Gangs,” – or even “Stop the Boats.” Among the many reasons this number should trouble us is the frighteningly high percentage of young, educated people who are leaping at the chance to join the exodus.

We’ll come to the wealth creators, job makers and eye-wateringly high taxpayers in a moment, but what does it tell you about the state of a nation that so many of its youth want to desert it?

In multiple instances, these will be the brightest and the best and those ready to take risks, put in a shift and create that ever elusive ‘growth’ everyone goes on about. They will be the ones who will go on to launch businesses and, down the years, employ thousands and contribute millions in taxes.

But NOT here in the UK. Dubai, Italy, Malta and other nations beckon. And who can blame them! With a government so intellectually barren and fiscally bankrupt it can only rely on hiking taxes on the “supposed rich” (which most they target definitely are NOT!) what else should they do?

And this week it is likely to get worse with a budget that’s already had more leaks, breaks and fixes than Trigger’s broom in Only Fools and Horses.

It is estimated that of those departing, approximately 16,500 are millionaires or indeed billionaires. Now if you’re infected with the green eye of jealousy and think good riddance to all these wealthy people, it’s probably best you don’t read on.

Because the reality is the amount of tax revenue lost to the UK treasury is incalculable. And as they go those who directly work for them – the drivers, security staff, gardeners and many others – are left jobless.

Remember, hand in hand with this record number of departures, Labour have contrived to deliver policies that result in 1,000 jobs being lost EVERY DAY!

These ONS figures also revealed a piece of post-Brexit history as migration from within the EU fell to below 100,000 for the first time since 2003.

And as we’re talking numbers, here’s a final one for you: 43,300. That’s the current estimate for the number of people who have arrived here via small boat crossings from France.

Ask yourself this. As we bid farewell to our richest and brightest and welcome, in many cases, thousands of undocumented young males many of whom are poorly educated and from cultures radically different from ours and have included an Ethiopian sex offender, an Egyptian people trafficker and an Afghan murderer, can you blame anyone for leaving?

Precisely.