Boris Johnson has launched a bitter attack on anti-Brexit campaigners for “crowing” over record-high immigration figures – as he called on Rishi Sunak to use Brexit to order a crackdown.
The former prime minister presided over a steady rise in net migration during his own time at No 10, despite repeated promises to bring numbers down after Brexit.
Unapologetic about his role in the perceived immigration crisis, Mr Johnson used the latest figures showing net migration hit 745,000 to criticise both Remain campaigners and Mr Sunak.
In his latest Mail column, Mr Johnson said “the anti-Brexit brigade” had “succumbed to a collective orgasm of excitement” over the huge increase in people coming to the UK.
“It’s failed, they crow. Brexit’s a dud, they say, and not for the first time they are talking out of the backs of their necks. What they say is the flat opposite of the truth, and in their cynical hearts they know,” he added.
Mr Johnson also argued that ongoing high levels of immigration means “that the anti-Brexit brigade were totally wrong about the attractions of post-Brexit Britain”.
The former Tory PM admitted that “we underestimated the magnetic pull of the UK” to attract large numbers of low-skilled people after Brexit – but put the blame on the Migration Advisory Committee.
Mr Johnson said: “You will remember that after Brexit everyone was wailing about the thought of EU workers fleeing Britain, and business was worried about shortages. So the Migration Advisory Committee put the minimum [salary threshold] at only £26,000 – not much more than the living wage.”
But that figure, he said, was “way too low”. He said Mr Sunak must now raise the minimum income for most migrants “right up to £40,000 or more”.
He added: “We have the powers to sort it out, and to change our immigration rules – which is exactly why the British people voted to take back those powers in 2016. We can do it now.”
Boris Johnson claimed Brexit would help bring down immigration numbers
Mr Johnson, who led the party to victory with the 2019 manifesto, was kicked out of office last year.
His election-winning campaign saw the then-PM pledge that “overall numbers will come down” and “we will ensure that the British people are always in control”.
Mr Sunak is believed to be considering raising minimum salary thresholds, as he tries to head off a revolt of the Tory right over the plan to tackle both legal and illegal migration.
His immigration minister Robert Jenrick is said to be pushing him to bring in a cap on the total number of NHS and social care visas, along with a ban on foreign social care workers bringing dependants to the UK.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson suggested that high levels of immigration are to blame for the Dublin riots, as he used the eruption of violence to knock the EU.
The former PM said people “will not accept demographic change at this kind of pace – even in the most achingly liberal of countries and capital cities”.
Mr Johnson added: “Look at what is happening in Dublin, where that lovely and happy city seems to have been engulfed by race riots.”
He also claimed the electoral victory of far-right candidate Geert Wilders in the Netherlands showed that immigration was too high across Europe was too high.
“The people of Ireland and Holland, in my experience, are among the nicest, kindest, most generous in the world.
“And yet there are plainly large numbers in both countries who are starting to worry that something has gone wrong, and that the EU system of free movement – a border-free Europe for the entire 450 million-strong territory – has too many downsides.”
