Speaking to the parliamentary home affairs committee, former professional footballers Anton Ferdinand and Marvin Sordell discussed racist abuse received online.

Ferdinand admitted that he had become used to it, saying: “I’m better prepared for it. It still hurts me. It still cuts me. But I’m better prepared.”

Sordell said that “it is clear to see” that racist abuse had increased over the past few years, blaming the “ease of which people can do so and get away with it”.