Brexit camp seizes on migration figures

Far more donations to ‘Out’ than ‘In’ Cameron pro-Brexit by instinct: ex-aide

LONDON, May 26, (AFP): Campaigners for Britain to leave the European Union in next month’s referendum warned Thursday that immigration from the bloc had “spun out of control” as new figures showed net migration at its second highest ever level.

Exactly four weeks before the June 23 vote, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published data putting net migration — the difference between those arriving and leaving — at 333,000 in the year to December 2015.

The record of 336,000 was set in June last year. A total of 270,000 EU citizens came to Britain in 2015, up 6,000, and net EU migration was up 10,000 at 184,000.

New data from the Labour Force Survey found 2.1 million EU nationals were working in Britain between January and March 2016, up 224,000 on the same period last year.

“We must face the fact that the system has spun out of control,” said Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson, the former London mayor and a possible successor to Prime Minister David Cameron, in a statement.

“We cannot control the numbers. We cannot control the terms on which people come and how we remove those who abuse our hospitality. This puts huge pressure on schools, hospitals and housing.”

He said Britain had benefited from immigration but it had to be limited, and said that staying in the EU meant “kissing goodbye permanently to control of immigration”.

UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage tweeted: “Mass immigration still hopelessly out of control and set to get worse if we Remain in EU.”

Many Europeans are drawn to Britain because of its relatively strong economy, and under EU rules of freedom of movement, the government cannot stop them.

Brexit supporters have put ending this freedom of movement at the heart of their campaign for a “Leave” vote.

Immigration minister James Brokenshire said the number of people moving to Britain “remains too high” but said that leaving the EU was “no panacea or silver bullet”.

He said the government had cut abuse of the student and family visa schemes for non-EU migrants, and would soon introduce new laws on tackling illegal employment.

Reforms to welfare payments to EU citizens, secured by Cameron in February, would also have an impact, he said.

New mayor of London Sadiq Khan, the son of Pakistani immigrants, said EU citizens working in Britain brought in LONDON, May 26, (Agencies): London’s new mayor Mayor Sadiq Khan told AFP on Thursday he was pushing a “positive case” for staying in the EU rather than simply predicting doom if Britain votes out.

He said a victory for Remain campaigners in the June 23 referendum would help boost workers’ rights, improve air quality and support the battle against climate change while keeping Britain safe.

“What we need to be doing, people like me who passionately believe that we should remain in the European Union, is to argue the positive case for remaining,” he told AFP as he launched his campaign at a meeting with young entrepreneurs in the British capital.

“We’ve always been a city and a country that’s been open, outward looking,” said Khan, the first Muslim elected to run a Western capital city.

The Labour mayor is hoping to win over undecided Londoners as well as encouraging the city’s people to actually go to the polls.

Khan, 45, who took office on May 9, also wants to move the campaign away from so-called scare stories that seek to frighten voters into either the Leave or Remain camps.

“So far the debate has largely been dominated by the potential risks on

billions of pounds in taxes.

“We as a city can see the huge cultural, social and economic benefits for our nation,” he told reporters.

Non-EU immigration fell by 10,000 to 277,000 in the year to December, while emigration — Britons leaving the UK — fell by 22,000 to 297,000.

The ONS on Wednesday projected that under current trends, the population of England would grow by 4.1 million — 7.5 percent — in the next ten years.

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Groups campaigning for Britain to leave the European Union have pulled ahead of those urging Britons to remain in the bloc in the race to raise funds, the Electoral Commission said on Thursday.

The various groups on the “Out” side received a total of 3.8 million pounds ($5.6 million) in donations between April 22 and May 12, more than double the combined 1.6 million pounds received by groups campaigning for “In”, new data showed.

Britons will vote on June 23 on either side, with one side saying if we leave, the world as we know it will end.

The other side saying if we stay, it will be the end of times,” Khan said in a speech.

“Frankly, neither is right. We would survive outside the EU but we’ll be diminished as a country as a result.”

Khan said he fully agreed with the economic case for staying in, but wanted to put across a different side of the argument.

“The choice we face isn’t only about the money in your pockets. It’s about the kind of country we want Britain to be,” he said.

“It’s about our values, how we perceive ourselves as a nation, how our open and outward-facing nature means we can’t help but embrace our European neighbours.”

“I believe ‘Remain’ is the best choice for Britain’s heart as well as it is for our head.”

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Monday warned that “fearbased” tactics in the EU referendum campaign could backfire.

With exactly four weeks to go until the referendum, the Remain camp is on 53 percent and the Leave campaign on 47 percent, according to the What UK Thinks website’s average of the most recent six opinion polls.

whether to remain in the 28-member EU, the world’s largest trading bloc, a choice with far-reaching consequences for politics, the economy, defence and diplomacy in Britain and far beyond.

Opinion polls have given conflicting steers on which way the referendum might go, with telephone polls suggesting “In” is comfortably ahead while online polls suggest a tight race that “Out” could win. Betting odds heavily favour an “In” vote.

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The campaign for Britain to leave the European Union maintained its lead ahead of the June 23 referendum, although the gap narrowed to 1 percentage point, according to a monthly opinion poll by BMG Research published on Wednesday.

The poll showed 45 percent supported Britain leaving the bloc, unchanged from a similar poll last month, while backing for an ‘In’ vote rose 1 point to 44 percent.

The online survey of 1,638 Voters, carried out between May 20 and 25,

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Prime Minister David Cameron is by “instinct” in favour of Britain leaving the European Union, one of his former top aides said in an interview published on Thursday.

Steve Hilton, a close friend who helped Cameron get elected in 2010 and worked with him in government, said the Conservative leader was only backing a “Remain” vote in the June 23 referendum because of his office.

“If he was a member of the public, or a backbench MP or a junior minister or even a cabinet minister, I’m certain that he would be for ‘Leave’,” Hilton told The Times newspaper in an interview.

The 46-year-old, who worked with Cameron for two decades, said the premier’s political mission used to be about leaving the EU, adding: “That’s his whole instinct. That’s who he is.

Meanwhile, those fighting for Britain to remain in the European Union are making good progress but getting young people to register and turn out to vote is the ‘In’ camp’s greatest concern.

Surveys show young people are far more likely to be in favour of remaining in the EU, but also far less likely to vote.

found 12 percent of respondents were undecided.

The poll continued a trend of telephone surveys giving the ‘In’ campaign a healthy lead, while those conducted online put the two camps neck and neck.

Britain’s leading expert on elections said earlier on Wednesday he was “none the wider” about which polls were providing a clearer picture of Britons’ Voting intentions.

But commentators agreed that turnout would be a crucial factor in determining the final outcome because of the divide between generations, with young Voters, who have a poor Voting record, strongly backing staying in the EU, but older, more reliable Voters favouring an exit.

The BMG poll found that six out of 10 of those in the 18-24 age group backed staying in the EU, but just 47 percent said they would definitely Vote.

But 80 percent of those aged over 65 said they would definitely Vote and six out of 10 in that age bracket indicated they would Vote for a Brexit.