Use Brexit to unite country – Boris Johnson is expected to make in anticipated speech
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Boris Johnson claims now is the time to “use Brexit to unite the country”, in a major speech which will be seen as the latest move in his Tory leadership campaign.
In a “wide-ranging speech”, a label widely seen by MPs as code for a leadership bid, Mr Johnson will urge the government to focus on the “issues that drove Brexit”.
Coming only days after Theresa May suffered a humiliating Commons defeat by a record 230 votes on her Brexit deal, the speech will be seen as a further act of disloyalty.
Mr Johnson will say that big corporations have used “access to unlimited pools” of foreign workers as one way to keep wages down.
“Now, I am a free market capitalist and a passionate believer in the benefits of migration, but there must be a balance and if an influx of labour is being used not only to prevent investment in capital equipment but also in the skills and prospects of young people, then we need to think carefully about how we control immigration.”
He is stressing the need to “think carefully” about how to control immigration and address the causes of the productivity gap.
But the ex-Cabinet minister will also say that controlling immigration alone will not be enough to give people a pay rise.
Speaking at JCB headquarters in Rochester, Staffordshire, Mr Johnson will say: “Yes, it (Brexit) was about democracy. But that vote was also triggered by a feeling that in some way the people of this country have been drifting too far apart and in areas where we need to come together.”
