Bosses are addicted to employing migrants, says Boris
BORIS Johnson has accused businesses of being addicted to employing migrants as he called for Britain to leave the EU by spring 2019.
The Foreign Secretary said firms had been guilty of ‘mainlining immigration like a kind of drug’ and not caring about ensuring those born here can do key jobs.
In an interview, he insisted Britain must be out of the EU by May 2019 – just days after Theresa May slapped him down by saying the timing of Brexit was for her and her alone to make.
Mr Johnson’s demand would mean that Article 50, the two-year formal legal process for starting negotiations to leave Brussels, would have to be invoked by next May. The Prime Minister has not
‘Got to invest in our own young people’
indicated when she will trigger Britain’s departure or what the shape of our exit may be.
In another shot across Mrs May’s bows, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox will suggest in a speech tomorrow that Britain should leave the single market entirely. The prominent Brexiteer’s comments will come despite the fact the Government has not yet revealed whether it believes the UK should retain access to the market.
He will tell the World Trade Organisation that the UK should take its place as a full independent member, able to negotiate its own deals outside the EU. At present, Britain is unable to strike free trade agreements with other nations because it is part of the EU’s ‘customs union’, which imposes common tariffs across the bloc.
Mr Johnson yesterday said he was ‘pro-immigration’ but that the numbers coming were too high because we do not have control of our borders.
Appearing on BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show, he said: ‘Immigrants do all these things in construction and the NHS and so on and so forth. But we’ve also got to invest in our own young people. And we’ve also got to build up the skills of people growing up in this country.
‘For 25 years, UK business and industry has been mainlining immigration like a kind of drug without actually investing enough or caring enough, frankly, about the skills and the training of young people in our country, and that’s what Theresa May and the new Government want to focus on.’ He added that immigration numbers at the moment were ‘huge’ and needed to be reduced.
‘I want skilled and talented people to come to the UK. If they want to make their lives, if they want to fulfil their dreams, in our country, then I have no problem with that, provided we have control,’ he said.
Mr Johnson said there was a lot of work to do to ‘get our ducks in order’ over what the Government want from Brexit negotiations.
‘But then after that, as the Prime Minister has rightly said, this process probably shouldn’t drag on,’ he said. ‘What everybody in this country wants is clarity and getting on with it.’
He said it would be odd if the British people ended up voting in elec- tions to the European Parliament in May 2019, indicating he believes Article 50 should therefore be invoked by May 2017.
‘There are euro elections coming down the track,’ he said. ‘I think people will be wondering whether we want to send a fresh batch of UK Euro MPs to an institution which we are going to be leaving.’
Mrs May slapped down Mr Johnson last week when he suggested Brexit may be started in early 2017. A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘Ultimately it’s her decision.’
Former Chancellor George Osborne has said the formal process of Brexit should not begin until the end of 2017, after elections in France and Germany.