Boris Johnson piles pressure on Rishi Sunak over migration figures – as he claims Dublin ‘engulfed by race riots’
Boris Johnson has heaped further pressure on Rishi Sunak over the UK’s “all-time high” net migration figures, as he suggested “demographic change” had led to “race riots” in Dublin.
The former prime minister criticised net migration numbers released this week as “way too big” and suggested imposing a minimum income of £40,000 for those who wanted to obtain a visa to work in the UK.
The latest data showed net migration hit a record-breaking 745,000 in 2022 – a number that was revised upwards from a previous estimate in May of 606,000, which was then deemed to be a record high.
At the same time, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed 672,000 people came to the UK in the 12 months to June 2023.
Net migration is calculated by looking at the number of people arriving in the UK when both immigration (people coming to the UK) and emigration (people leaving the UK) are taken into account.
Politics news latest: Rishi Sunak admits ‘more to do’ to reduce net migration
In his weekly Daily Mail column, Mr Johnson argued that people would “not accept demographic change at this kind of pace – even in the most achingly liberal of countries and capital cities”.
He claimed that events in the “lovely and happy city” of Dublin – where violent protests and clashes with police took place after three young children were injured in a stabbing incident outside a primary school – “seems to have been engulfed by race riots”.
And he also pointed to the election victory of “patently Islamophobic” Geert Wilders in the Netherlands as a further sign that electorates were rejecting big migration numbers.
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Rishi Sunak admits ‘more to do’ to reduce net migration amid Tory backbench fury
“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,” he said.
The numbers from the ONS drew strong criticism from Conservative MPs on the right of the party, with former home secretary Suella Braverman calling it “a slap in the face to the British public who have voted to control and reduce migration at every opportunity”.
She called on the government – which she was a member of until last week – to “act now”, with policies including introducing an annual cap on net migration and the number of health and social care visas given out, as well as raising the salary threshold for people to come to the country, closing the graduate visa route, and limiting the number of dependents.
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Tory approach to immigration ‘chaotic’
In his column, Mr Johnson admitted the immigration system post-Brexit – while he was still in power – led to too many workers on low incomes coming to the UK.
He said the Migration Advisory Committee, an independent body that advises the government on migration issues, had set the minimum salary level too low at £26,000 because “after Brexit everyone was wailing about the thought of EU workers fleeing Britain, and business was worried about shortages”.
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“What the numbers also show is that after Brexit we underestimated the magnetic pull of the UK; and the numbers show that the British labour market is continuing to inspire large numbers of low-skilled people to want to come to work here – and for low incomes,” he wrote.
“That is a mistake. The beauty of Brexit is that we can change those incentives, and address the problem in a way that is open to no other European country.”
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Making Britain better off will be “at the forefront of the chancellor’s mind” during her visit to China, the Treasury has said amid controversy over the trip.
Rachel Reeves flew out on Friday after ignoring calls from opposition parties to cancel the long-planned venture because of market turmoil at home.
The past week has seen a drop in the pound and an increase in government borrowing costs, which has fuelled speculation of more spending cuts or tax rises.
The Tories have accused the chancellor of having “fled to China” rather than explain how she will fix the UK’s flatlining economy, while the Liberal Democrats say she should stay in Britain and announce a “plan B” to address market volatility.
However, Ms Reeves has rejected calls to cancel the visit, writing in The Times on Friday night that choosing not to engage with China is “no choice at all”.
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The chancellor will be accompanied by Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey and other senior executives.
She will meet with her counterpart, Vice Premier He Lifeng, in Beijing on Saturday to discuss financial services, trade and investment.
She will also “raise difficult issues”, including Chinese firms supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and concerns over constraints on rights and freedoms in Hong Kong, the Treasury said.
But it did not mention whether Ms Reeves would raise the treatment of the Uyghur community, which Downing Street said Foreign Secretary David Lammy would do during his visit last year.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing. Pic: AP
On Friday, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy defended the trip, telling Sky News that the climbing cost of government borrowing was a “global trend” that had affected many countries, “most notably the United States”.
“We are still on track to be the fastest growing economy, according to the OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] in Europe,” she told Anna Jones on Sky News Breakfast.
“China is the second-largest economy, and what China does has the biggest impact on people from Stockton to Sunderland, right across the UK, and it’s absolutely essential that we have a relationship with them.”
Read more – Ed Conway analysis: The chancellor’s gamble with China
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Nandy defends Reeves’ trip to China
However, former prime minister Boris Johnson said Ms Reeves had “been rumbled” and said she should “make her way to HR and collect her P45 – or stay in China”.
While in the country’s capital, Ms Reeves will also visit British bike brand Brompton’s flagship store, which relies heavily on exports to China, before heading to Shanghai for talks with representatives across British and Chinese businesses.
It is the first UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) since 2019, building on the Labour government’s plan for a “pragmatic” policy with the world’s second-largest economy.
Sir Keir Starmer was the first British prime minister to meet with China’s President Xi Jinping in six years at the G20 summit in Brazil last autumn.
Relations between the UK and China have become strained over the last decade as the Conservative government spoke out against human rights abuses and concerns grew over national security risks.
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How much do we trade with China?
Navigating this has proved tricky given China is the UK’s fourth largest single trading partner, with a trade relationship worth almost £113bn and exports to China supporting over 455,000 jobs in the UK in 2020, according to the government.
During the Tories’ 14 years in office, the approach varied dramatically from the “golden era” under David Cameron to hawkish aggression under Liz Truss, while Rishi Sunak vowed to be “robust” but resisted pressure from his own party to brand China a threat.
The Treasury said a stable relationship with China would support economic growth and that “making working people across Britain secure and better off is at the forefront of the chancellor’s mind”.
Ahead of her visit, Ms Reeves said: “By finding common ground on trade and investment, while being candid about our differences and upholding national security as the first duty of this government, we can build a long-term economic relationship with China that works in the national interest.”
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