Drop the defeatism on Brexit, says the US
Ambassador urges UK to replace pessimism with belief and confidence in the future
BRITAIN needs to shed its “defeatist attitude” towards Brexit and take “inspiration” from Donald Trump in the talks, the US ambassador has said.
Woody Johnson said he did not think Brexit would present a “major challenge”, and questioned why the UK was “so nervous” about the prospect of leaving the European Union.
He said the UK’S “pessimism” was “sorrowing”.
Mr Johnson made the comments, in a new Channel 4 documentary, after Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, told a group of Tory donors that if Mr Trump was in charge of Brexit “actually you might get somewhere”.
It came as Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, insisted that the Treasury was not the “enemy of Brexit” but rather the “champion of prosperity for the British people outside the EU”.
Mr Hammond also accused Brussels of making a land grab for the City.
Yesterday Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, admitted that hardened criminals from EU countries could be given the right to live and work in the UK because EU rules prevented the Home Office carrying out blanket criminal records checks in foreign countries.
Brexiteers said the immigration deal for EU citizens in Britain, unveiled by Mr Javid yesterday, was too generous as it emerged that almost four million people could apply for settled status – 600,000 more than previously thought.
Mr Johnson, who took up his post last November, said nervousness about Brexit had surprised him, adding that “as an American I’m just not used to hearing that”. He said he was disappointed by Britons’ lack of “confidence for where you are heading”, adding: “To see this defeatist attitude towards Brexit is a bit sorrowing for me, when I read nothing in the papers about anybody having a positive attitude towards Brexit or towards the future. Don’t be pessimistic, have faith.”
Turning to the president, Mr Johnson said: “When you look at Donald Trump and what he has done, maybe take some inspiration and do some of the things he has done. He turned something round in one year, he has got 3 per cent growth. We had a point and a half last year – that is trillions of dollars.”
He added: “I’m very confident about what happens after Brexit. I don’t think that is a major challenge, why are we so nervous?”
Officials are planning Mr Trump’s visit on July 13, when he will meet the Queen and Mrs May, the Prime Minister. In the documentary, Mr Johnson is overheard discussing staging Mr Trump’s first state trip to the UK with Sir Mark Sedwill, the UK’S National Security Adviser in May or July next year.
At the embassy’s opening this year, the US ambassador urged the security adviser not to let “fear” about the visit “hold you back”. Sir Mark added: “So, I think for him to be the first big visit after Brexit... This is a Brexit president.”
Meanwhile Jean-claude Juncker, the European Commission president, said in a speech that Britain outside the EU was a country that does not “yet know that they are small”.
Last night Airbus, the aerospace company, warned that it could pull out of the UK entirely, putting 14,000 jobs at risk, due to uncertainty over Brexit. ♦inside the American Embassy is on Channel 4 at 10pm on Monday.
EU NATIONALS will not be subject to international criminal record checks under a generous post-brexit immigration scheme unveiled by the Home Secretary yesterday.
Sajid Javid announced almost four million EU citizens can claim settled status in Britain simply by answering basic questions online. Decisions will be made quickly, with the presumption that all applications will be approved.
Under the scheme, any EU national who comes to Britain before the end of December 2020 will have the right to settled status, as long as they pay a £65 (£32.50 for children) application fee.
They can then bring in parents, grandparents, siblings, boyfriends or girlfriends under the new rules, denoting a much better deal than other migrants who wish to live and work here.
MPS warned the scheme was too
generous, given EU plans that could force British nationals to pay £50 to travel after Brexit and amid concerns that most countries have yet to agree how their new systems will work.
Mr Javid also revealed that 600,000 more EU nationals than expected could be given the right to stay because officials do not know how many people are already here. The scheme was unveiled despite the EU refusing to offer a blanket amnesty to British citizens, prompting calls from senior Tory MPS for the Prime Minister to make clear the new system can be withdrawn unless reciprocal arrangements are agreed.
Mr Javid said: “Throughout, we will be looking to grant, not for reasons to refuse. I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge, but the Home Office already issues around seven million passports and three million visas each year, and so processing applications on the scale required is not new to us.”
But Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, and David Jones, the former Europe minister, said the deal was too generous.
Mr Jones said: “This has to be raised at the June council. We are offering far more than is being offered in return. It has to be made clear we have been open with our offer but it depends on reciprocity with the EU.”
Mr Duncan Smith said: “We’ve offered a generous settlement but the EU has done absolutely nothing at all... we reserve the right to withdraw these arrangements.”
The Home Office admitted that hardened criminals could be among the four million granted new settled status because the UK cannot carry out inter- national criminal record checks and has to rely on UK police records instead. Although Britain can refuse serious criminals the right to stay, EU nationals can decide not to reveal their convictions. It means rapists and murderers could slip under the radar and be granted the right to live and work here.
Last night, Mr Duncan Smith said anyone found to have lied about a previous conviction on their form should be deported under immigration rules that would come into force once the UK officially left the EU.
Peter Bone, a Brexiteer Tory MP, said: “That’s a long way from what the British people voted for. I personally think now a no-deal situation with us coming out at the end of March would be beneficial.”
The new scheme is set to receive its first applications within weeks, with the Home Office hoping shortly to begin testing an online platform, followed by a phased roll-out from late 2018. Officials believe the scheme will be fully open by March 30, 2019, the day after Britain officially departs the EU. The final deadline for applications is the end of June 2021.
‘I think a no-deal with us coming out at the end of March would be beneficial’
Brexit, say its least reasonable critics, was a vote for intolerance. If so, how do they explain Britain’s generous citizenship offer to EU nationals living in the UK? They will be given the right to settle and the Government’s default position will be to grant, not refuse, applications. All that’s required is ID, proof that they live in Britain and to declare if they have a criminal record. On that last point, the Government must proceed with care. The proposed system could contain the loophole that crimes committed abroad won’t be automatically detected, possibly leading to citizenship for hardened offenders.
The overall application figure is expected to be very large indeed: approaching four million, which is higher than previously anticipated because the Home Office does not know precisely how many Europeans are living in the country. This is an indictment of how poorly managed the system has been. Yes, EU nationals can move freely and thus individual governments are under little obligation to keep track of them, but Britain in general does a bad job at counting those entering and leaving the country – and whatever new migration regime is established after Brexit, it must be fair, transparent and properly policed.
The Government also needs to point out when at the negotiating table that Britain has been more generous to European citizens than Brussels has been to ours: EU member states have not published concrete plans for looking after British expats. At the start of the Brexit process, EU leaders blocked a proposal for a like-for-like amnesty for British expats and EU migrants in the UK. In the next few years, perhaps Britain will teach Brussels a lesson or two in openness and generosity.