Boris Johnson accused Andy Burnham of plotting to reverse Brexit by bringing back freedom of movement. The former Conservative Prime Minister said the new Burnham-led Labour government would start by claiming it just wanted to make it easier for students to study across Europe, and would then scrap border controls for EU nationals entirely.
Johnson's Warning on Free Movement
Speaking on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Johnson said: “I’m not actually anti-immigrants. I think I’m lucky that my own family was allowed to immigrate to this country. But what people want to see is full legal democratic accountability. And that’s what they have now got.”
“And so when Andy Burnham says he wants to go closer to the European Union, whatever he’s saying when he says he wants to have a new relationship or a reset, what they want is a return to free movement. And they’ll start with students and all that nonsense, and then it’ll become absolutely unstoppable,” Johnson added.
Burnham's EU Reset Plans
Keir Starmer had planned a summer summit with EU leaders to press ahead with his “reset” with Brussels, but this was postponed due to his resignation. Andy Burnham, who officially becomes Prime Minister on Monday, intends to press ahead with the summit later in the year. Burnham has also said he wants to go further in building even closer links with the EU than his predecessor.
On the agenda is a “youth mobility scheme” making it easier for young people from the EU to live and work in the UK without restrictions, with the same right for British young people who want to live in the EU.
Johnson's Comments on Immigration and Culture
Johnson also said Britain needs to insist immigrants adopt British culture, as he slammed immigration failures that he suggested allowed the grooming scandal. He said: “Over decades we’ve been far too limp wristed in insisting people conform to our ideals, norms of our society … the grooming gangs, all this sort of stuff. We haven’t been tough enough in insisting on basic British norms of behaviour … it is totally unacceptable that you should have populations of women who don’t speak English.”
