boris.jpg Boris Johnson, pictured here in 2013, last week said “the last thing we should be is negative” on immigration
Boris Johnson has emerged as one of the few mainstream politicians in Britain prepared to defend the virtues of immigration.
Speaking during a trade trip to Singapore last Friday, as Prime Minister David Cameron was in Staffordshire delivering his long-awaited speech on curbing immigration, Mr Johnson said “the last we should be is negative”.
The Mayor of London defended Mr Cameron’s pledge to curb immigrant access to Britain’s welfare system but added:
“I think the numbers of such people are probably pretty small but there is unquestionably a phenomenon. There is no doubt people see our benefits system in the UK as an attraction for coming here.
HIATUS ‘SENSIBLE’
“What David Cameron is proposing seems very sensible – you would have a four-year hiatus before you could get such benefits.”
But Mr Johnson continued: “What would be a bad idea, for us in the UK, would be for the UK to send out a signal we are somehow hostile to talent and hostile to brilliant people who want to come and make their lives in our country – 40% of Londoners were born abroad.
“The dynamism of the London economy is intrinsically bound up with its ability to attract talent.
“The last thing we should be is negative.”
SEND BACK TURKISH PEAS
In a section of his speech to the Chamber of Commerce in Singapore, Mr Johnson discussed “alien plants” introduced to the UK from other countries.
He described the English rose as being originally from Iran, plane trees as coming from Belgium and Spain, and garden peas as being Turkish in origin.
He joked: “I tell you, there are people who would probably chop those trees down and send them back.
“Let us work to encourage the free trade between our countries, the exchange of ideas, the movement of talent, the great cross pollination and cross fertilisation that has advanced these two global entrepots since they were founded.”
CAMERON: NO MIGRATION FROM TURKEY
Mr Cameron announced in his landmark immigration speech on Friday that migrants from the European Union would have leave Britain if they do not get a job within six months.
He said EU migrants would also be prevented from claiming benefits for four years.
But in comments that will directly affect Turkey, he said: “we will insist that when new countries are admitted to the EU in the future, free movement will not apply to those new members until their economies have converged much more closely with existing Member States. Future accession treaties require unanimous agreement of all Member States. So the UK will ensure this change is included.”
