Remain vote ‘will lead to an influx bigger than Scotland’
More than five million migrants would move to the UK by 2030, warns Michael Gove
A POPULATION bigger than Scotland will arrive in the UK from the continent if Britain stays in the European Union, Michael Gove has warned.
The Justice Secretary said that more than 400,000 migrants a year could come to the UK by 2030 if Britons vote to remain in the EU next month.
In total this would see 5.23 million move to the UK – more than the population of Scotland.
Mr Gove said the influx would put huge pressure on hospitals, with the National Health Service needing an ex- tra £9.35 billion by 2030 to cope. Nearly 15,000 more doctors and more than 43,000 nurses will be needed to maintain current caring levels.
Mr Gove’s speech on immigration at the headquarters of Vote Leave was the first in a series setting out his vision for Britain outside Europe ahead of the EU referendum on June 23.
He said in future he will examine how leaving the EU “can make our country fairer” and “advance social mobility” by tackling “the abuse of power and influence perpetrated by who I have called the undeserving rich”.
In the speech, Mr Gove said even if Britons vote to remain in the EU he will lobby David Cameron, the Prime Minister, to pump hundreds of millions of pounds into the NHS.
Mr Gove said: “Even without accepting any new countries we can expect a continuing net flow of 172,000 new individuals from the EU into the UK every year,” putting huge pressure on the NHS and adding 2.6 million to the UK’s population.
The larger net migration figures assume that five countries – Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia Turkey – join the EU in 2020.
He said: “Citizens from these countries will inevitably be attracted to the UK – not just because of our free healthcare but also because of the additional pull factor that will result from the welcome introduction of the national living wage.
“Turkey has 77 million citizens, overall these accession countries are home to 88 million people – the attraction to Britain is obvious.
“If we vote to stay on June 23 we can expect net EU migration of between 170,000 and 430,000 each year [and] that means between 2.6 million and 5 million extra people coming to Britain on top of those who have arrived over the past 15 years.
“The idea of asking the NHS to look after a new group of patients equiva- lent in size to four Birminghams is clearly unsustainable – free movement on that scale will have huge consequences for the NHS.”
Pointing out that both the UK and EU were committed to the five countries joining an enlarged EU, Mr Gove said that the rise would see between six million and 13 million more visits to already over-stretched accident and emergency departments every year.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, who is campaigning for the UK to remain in the EU, said Mr Gove’s figures were “plucked from thin air”.
He said: “I think these figures are very often just plucked from thin air and they’re not designed to inform – they’re designed to confuse.”
Mothers should vote for Britain to stay in the European Union for the sake of their children’s future, former prime minister Gordon Brown will say today. Around 500,000 new jobs can be created by opening up the single market further to British firms, he will say.
‘I think these figures are very often plucked from thin air and they’re not designed to inform – they’re to confuse.’