‘We’ll be more accepting of migrants after Brexit’
Education Secretary. Asked if he wanted to end the independent sector by stealth, Mr Gove said: “Well, yes.”
In a sign that the minister has lost none of his zeal for social reform, he recalled writing a provocative article proposing to reform the tax perks of the independent sector.
Asked if that was the same as Labour’s current policy, he admitted: “Exactly, that’s why I hesitated because I think the Labour policy is wrong, of course. But there are ways in which independent schools are proving that they can do more to help the state sector, and that’s a good thing.”
Leading Brexiteer Mr Gove also suggested that Britons were more relaxed about high immigration because of Brexit. His remarks follow yesterday’s latest official figures showing a 15-year high in net immigration from outside the EU. Asked if Vote Leave misled voters in the 2016 referendum into thinking immigration would fall after Brexit, he said people had wanted “democratic control” over numbers.
“The second thing is we’ve seen public attitudes towards migration change,” he went on. “Now that people know that we have democratic control, actually there’s been a greater degree of acceptance of migration overall.”
The Environment Secretary said peo- ple were “more tolerant” in countries like Australia and Canada, where governments could set numbers. Asked where that left Theresa May’s target to cut immigration to the tens of thousands, he said voters could use their vote at general elections to punish a government they disagreed with.
Mr Gove admitted that when he decided to back the Leave campaign in 2016 he thought it would lose. “My own view was that actually I didn’t think we would win the referendum, I didn’t think we would leave, although I’m glad that was the result.”
He confirmed he urged David Cameron strongly not to hold a referendum. “I remember saying at the time... that I didn’t think that it was a good idea.” He had feared it would create divisions and thought some people would “never be satisfied” with any outcome.
“But there was also something else,” he added. “I worried that we might find ourselves on different sides. And so there was a personal element.” After a seismic week in which Mrs May agreed to let MPs vote to delay Brexit to prevent crashing out on March 29, Mr Gove denied that a no-deal departure had been taken off the table.
“No, the chance of us leaving without a deal on March 29 is materially lower, but there is still a decision to be made if we don’t get the Prime Minister’s deal over the line.” He said a delayed Brexit “could lead simply to another sharper cliff-edge later in the year”.
He refused to say how he would vote if it came down to a choice between no deal or delaying Brexit. “I won’t answer that question yet because answering that question can have an impact on what I want to see happen, which is as many people as possible back the Prime Minister’s deal,” he said. Mr Gove said her deal was now “the most likely outcome”.
He also announced a summit on tackling the scandal of the mountains of food waste which will be held at the V&A museum and addressed by entrepreneur Ben Elliot, the first government “food czar” and a supporter of The Felix Project, the Standard-backed campaign to turn surplus ingredients into healthy meals. Speaking of the food worth 250 million dinners that gets thrown away each year, he said; “It’s an environmental scandal, a moral catastrophe... We have got to do something about it.”