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”.
Read more:
Dublin riot: Everything we know about knife attack and police clashes
More bad news for govt as backbenchers demand action on net migration
“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.”
Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, marks their 50th birthday amid a year of rising institutional and geopolitical adoption of the world’s first cryptocurrency.
The identity of Nakamoto remains one of the biggest mysteries in crypto, with speculation ranging from cryptographers like Adam Back and Nick Szabo to broader theories involving government intelligence agencies.
While Nakamoto’s identity remains anonymous, the Bitcoin (BTC) creator is believed to have turned 50 on April 5 based on details shared in the past.
According to archived data from his P2P Foundation profile, Nakamoto once claimed to be a 37-year-old man living in Japan and listed his birthdate as April 5, 1975.
Source: Web.archive.org
Nakamoto’s anonymity has played a vital role in maintaining the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network, which has no central authority or leadership.
The Bitcoin wallet associated with Nakamoto, which holds over 1 million BTC, has laid dormant for more than 16 years despite BTC rising from $0 to an all-time high above $109,000 in January.
Satoshi Nakamoto statue in Lugano, Switzerland. Source: Cointelegraph
Nakamoto’s 50th birthday comes nearly a month after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, marking the first major step toward integrating Bitcoin into the US financial system.
Related: Bitcoin at 16: From experiment to trillion-dollar asset
Nakamoto’s legacy: a “cornerstone of economic sovereignty”
“At 50, Nakamoto’s legacy is no longer just code; it’s a cornerstone of economic sovereignty,” according to Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert.
“Bitcoin’s reserve status signals trust in its scarcity and resilience,” Lian told Cointelegraph, adding:
“What’s fascinating is the timing. Fifty feels symbolic — half a century of life, mirrored by Bitcoin’s journey from a white paper to a trillion-dollar asset. Nakamoto’s vision of trustless, peer-to-peer money has outgrown its cypherpunk roots, entering the halls of power.”
However, lingering questions about Nakamoto remain unanswered, including whether they still hold the keys to their wallet, which is “a fortune now tied to US policy,” Lian said.
Related: Bitcoin’s next catalyst: End of $36T US debt ceiling suspension
Is Satoshi Nakamoto wealthier than Bill Gates?
In February, Arkham Intelligence published findings that attribute 1.096 million BTC — then valued at more than $108 billion — to Nakamoto. That would place him above Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on the global wealth rankings, according to data shared by Coinbase director Conor Grogan.
Satoshi’s new addresses. Source: Conor Grogan
If accurate, this would make Nakamoto the world’s 16th richest person.
Despite the growing interest in Nakamoto’s identity and holdings, his early decision to remain anonymous and inactive has helped preserve Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos — a principle that continues to define the cryptocurrency to this day.
Magazine: 10 crypto theories that missed as badly as ‘Peter Todd is Satoshi’
The United States stock market lost more in value over the April 4 trading day than the entire cryptocurrency market is worth, as fears over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to ramp up.
On April 4, the US stock market lost $3.25 trillion — around $570 billion more than the entire crypto market’s $2.68 trillion valuation at the time of publication.
Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market”
Among the Magnificent-7 stocks, Tesla (TSLA) led the losses on the day with a 10.42% drop, followed by Nvidia (NVDA) down 7.36% and Apple (AAPL) falling 7.29%, according to TradingView data.
The significant decline across the board signals that the Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market” after falling 6% across the trading day, trading resource account The Kobeissi Letter said in an April 4 X post. This is the largest daily decline since March 16, 2020.
“US stocks have now erased a massive -$11 TRILLION since February 19 with recession odds ABOVE 60%,” it added. The Kobessi Letter said Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement was “historic” and if the tariffs continue, a recession will be “impossible to avoid.”
Source: Anthony Scaramucci
On April 2, Trump signed an executive order establishing reciprocal tariffs on trading partners and a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries.
Trump said the reciprocal tariffs will be roughly half the rate US trading partners impose on American goods.
Related: Bitcoin bulls defend $80K support as ‘World War 3 of trade wars’ crushes US stocks
Meanwhile, the crypto industry has pointed out that while the stock market continues to decline, Bitcoin (BTC) remains stronger than most expected.
Crypto trader Plan Markus pointed out in an April 4 X post that while the entire stock market “is tanking,” Bitcoin is holding.
Source: Jeff Dorman
Even some crypto skeptics have pointed out the contrast between Bitcoin’s performance and the US stock market during the recent period of macro uncertainty.
Stock market commentator Dividend Hero told his 203,200 X followers that he has “hated on Bitcoin in the past, but seeing it not tank while the stock market does is very interesting to me.”
Meanwhile, technical trader Urkel said Bitcoin “doesn’t appear to care one bit about tariff wars and markets tanking.” Bitcoin is trading at $83,749 at the time of publication, down 0.16% over the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap data.
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