Blair advises immigration curbs

Gibraltar official seeks stronger ties post-Brexit

LONDON, Sept 10, (Agencies): Former prime minister Tony Blair is not giving up his campaign to prevent Britain from leaving the European Union, using a Sunday Times article to propose that Britain instead toughen its rules on EU immigration.

The outspoken Brexit opponent says reducing immigration from EU countries into Britain would satisfy many who voted in favor of Brexit in the June, 2016 referendum without subjecting the country to the economic havoc it would face if it leaves the 28-nation bloc.

Blair, who led the Labour Party to three consecutive electoral victories, admits his government okayed the open door policy that brought many eastern Europeans to Britain after their countries joined the EU in 2004. He said times — and economic conditions — have changed, making it mandatory for stiff new controls to be put in place.

“There can be no change to Brexit unless we confront the underlying causes of it,” Blair said, conceding that the referendum vote showed a widespread feeling that unchecked immigration was forcing wages down, straining public services, and — particularly when it involves conservative Muslims — raising questions of cultural integration.

Blair’s intervention comes as Parliament prepares to vote Monday on a Brexit bill that would eventually convert large swaths of EU law into British law once Brexit is finalized, which is expected early in 2019.

His predecessor, former prime minister John Major of the Conservative Party, has also warned about the negative consequences of Brexit.

Blair said many senior politicians know that leaving the EU is a grave error that will cause deep economic hardship but feel “trapped” by the referendum vote and as a result are supporting Brexit even though they don’t believe in it.

His proposal is based on the concept that the will of the people can be respected if EU immigration is substantially cut both by a series of new rules and by negotiations with EU leaders.

Blair’s proposal would require EU immigrants to register upon arrival in Britain so officials can find out whether they find jobs or study. It would also require EU nationals to prove they have a confirmed job offer before they can settle in Britain, and ban those without permission from renting property, opening a bank account, or claiming benefits.

In addition, it would make it harder for immigrants to qualify for the National Health Service and allow universities to charge EU nationals higher tuition rates.

Also:

GIBRALTAR:

The chief minister of Gibraltar says the British territory’s post-Brexit future rests on strengthening its ties with the United Kingdom.

Chief Minister Fabian Picardo tells The Associated Press that his goal after Britain leaves the European Union is to “cement the relationship with the United Kingdom” in terms of both sovereignty and a commercial relationship.

Picardo says he wants to “establish that bilateral relationship of trade to continue the morning after Brexit as if the single market between Gibraltar and the UK seamlessly moved from one moment to the next.”

Gibraltar, a rocky outcrop at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula with 32,000 residents, has strong economic connections with surrounding Spanish regions. In last year’s vote, 96 percent of Gibraltarians voted for Britain to remain in the EU.

MADRID:

AstraZeneca Chief Executive Pascal Soriot, fearing a potentially abrupt Brexit, said on Saturday that lack of progress in negotiations made it impossible for him to sign a public letter of support for the British government’s strategy.

As reported by Reuters this week, Prime Minister Theresa May’s office has asked companies listed in the blue-chip FTSE 100 index to put their name to a public letter welcoming the government’s efforts to make Brexit a success.

“The reason I didn’t sign is that I felt there are so many areas that are still uncertain.

How can we support something that we don’t really understand fully?” Soriot told Reuters on the sidelines of a cancer conference in Madrid.

Executives at several companies have said privately that the request went down badly with many large corporations but they have been reluctant to comment publicly.

Soriot said his refusal to sign did not mean the drugmaker disagreed with Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, adding that it could have some positive aspects if it went hand-in-hand with increased support for the UK life sciences sector.

But the deep uncertainty about future terms of trade just 18 months before Brexit happens in March 2019 means exports of medicines could be hampered, he said.

“What is starting to worry me, I must say, is the potential for the one thing I didn’t think would happen which is a hard Brexit,” he said.

“If there is no extension we will be left in limbo because the UK will come out of Europe and we will have no trade agreements.”

Britain’s second-biggest pharmaceuticals company makes a large amount of products in the north of

England, including the cancer drug Zoladex, sales of which are increasing rapidly in China and other countries around the world.“We need to know that is not going to be disrupted because right now we are exporting under a trade agreement between the EU and China,” Soriot said.

Many companies fear that Britain’s move to leave the world’s largest trading bloc will increase bureaucracy, drive up costs and eat into profitability.

The public letter, which May’s advisers wanted Soriot and other business leaders to sign, states that signatories are confident that “global Britain has the potential to become one of the most productive economies of the 21st century”.