Boris Johnson sets out Tory leadership stall
Boris Johnson, who is widely tipped to stand for the leadership of the Conservative party, has broken cover for the first time since the referendum results were announced.
He has set out how he sees Britain navigating the Brexit process and given an indication of how he would run the Conservative party, should he win its leadership.
Despite strong indications from senior leave figures that freedom of movement would be likely to stay in a renegotiated deal with the EU, Johnson claimed Britain would be able to introduce a points-based immigration system while maintaining “access” to the single market.
And, despite some of his Brexit colleagues admitting that there would not be an extra £350m to spend on the NHS as a result of Britain leaving the bloc, he insisted there would be a “substantial sum of money which we will no longer send to Brussels, but which could be used on priorities such as the NHS”.
In his weekly Telegraph column, Johnson said Brexit would “not come in any great rush” and dismissed Nicola Sturgeon’s calls for a second Scottish independence referendum, insisting he did not “detect any real appetite” for one.
And Johnson signalled how he may cast himself in the Tory leadership election, saying: “We must pursue actively the one-nation policies that are among David Cameron’s fine legacy, such as his campaigns on the living wage and life chances.”
There were more than 16 million who wanted to remain.
They are our neighbours, brothers and sisters who did what they passionately believe was right. In a democracy majorities may decide but everyone is of equal value.
We who are part of this narrow majority must do everything we can to reassure the remainers.
We must reach out, we must heal, we must build bridges – because it is clear that some have feelings of dismay, and of loss, and confusion.
Johnson expanded on his vision of post-Brexit Britain, writing:
I cannot stress too much that Britain is part of Europe, and always will be.
There will still be intense and intensifying European cooperation and partnership in a huge number of fields: the arts, the sciences, the universities, and on improving the environment.
EU citizens living in this country will have their rights fully protected, and the same goes for British citizens living in the EU.
British people will still be able to go and work in the EU; to live; to travel; to study; to buy homes and to settle down. As the German equivalent of the CBI – the BDI – has very sensibly reminded us, there will continue to be free trade, and access to the single market.
And he added:
The only change – and it will not come in any great rush – is that the UK will extricate itself from the EU’s extraordinary and opaque system of legislation: the vast and growing corpus of law enacted by a European Court of Justice from which there can be no appeal.
This will bring not threats, but golden opportunities for this country – to pass laws and set taxes according to the needs of the UK.
Yes, the government will be able to take back democratic control of immigration policy, with a balanced and humane points-based system to suit the needs of business and industry.