Boris Johnson takes new election battle bus to Blackpool and promises post-Brexit boost for low-paid Brits
BORIS Johnson showed his rock and roll credentials again as he headed to Blackpool on his new election battle bus and promised a post-Brexit boost for low-paid Brits.
The PM, who revealed this week his favourite bands were The Rolling Stones and The Clash, insisted his new points-based immigration system will reduce new arrivals to mainly high-skilled employees.
That will ease intense competition on UK-born blue collar workers, who have complained for years they have been undercut by newcomers, often from Eastern Europe.
Mr Johnson copied his hero Winston Churchill by chewing on a stick of rock as if it was a cigar during a visit to a confectionary factory in Blackpool.
The Tory leader helped make a blue and white version with the words “Back Boris” through it.
Mr Johnson went on to draw stark contrast between his plan for an Australian-style points based system and Labour’s offer to extend freedom of movement worldwide and open the door to all.
The PM insisted: “We have been running very high rates of immigration for a long time.
“When it comes to unskilled immigration for people who don’t have a job to come to, we will get the numbers down.
“Unskilled immigration has certainly helped to keep wages down.”
CORBYN ON BLAST
Turning his fire on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, the PM also told the BBC: “What the Labour Party want is uncontrolled immigration from the whole world.
“Jeremy Corbyn has a policy of zero control.”
Feuding Labour chiefs were set for a showdown meeting today on what to include in their manifesto, with the thorny issue of immigration topping a list of bitter disputes between rival factions.
Mr Johnson has scrapped the decade-old Tory target to reduce net immigration to below 100,000 a year — declaring that he is still “a pro-immigration politician” and pointing out that “immigration can be a wonderful thing”.
He insisted that he was “not going to get into a numbers game”, yet he still vowed: “Overall, it will be lower.”
But Boris was also caught out on immigration figures yesterday.
In the gaffe, he named the proportion between EU and non-EU immigrants who come to the UK as “about 50/50”.
In fact, 80 per cent come from outside of the EU, with only 20 per cent now coming in from Europe — or 219,000 versus 59,000 over the past year.
Instead of the Conservative Party’s name, by far the biggest slogan on the bus the PM launched yesterday is his mantra for December 12, “Get Brexit Done”.
He took the bus on a tour of marginal seats in the North West, a crucial election battleground. That included the Tories’ key target of Blackpool South, a pro-Brexit seat held by Labour with a majority of just 2,523.
In a bid to curry favour with Leave voters, the PM also said he could “absolutely guarantee” he would not be asking to extend the Brexit transition period that runs to the end of 2020.
BORIS FIRST TO BRAVE A PHONE-IN GRILLING
If Britain finally does exit the EU on January 31, that only leaves 11 months to negotiate a new trade deal with Brussels.
But Mr Johnson said that would be “bags of time”.
Meanwhile, Boris became the first of the major party leaders to subject himself to a phone-in grilling from ordinary voters on Radio 5 Live yesterday.
During it, he defended donations to the Tories from Russian oligarchs, saying they had all been “properly vetted”.
And he insisted there was “no evidence” of Moscow interference in any UK elections so far.
He also used his battle bus in Greater Manchester to unveil a pledge to introduce greener vehicles in the future.
Speaking at a rally, he described the enormous vehicle as “wonderful” but vowed there would be “buses that are a lot greener than this” under his government.
And in a dig at Parliament’s Brexit dithering, he told the crowd: “Some of you may be asking, why do we even need a bus, why do we even need an election?
“The answer is because Parliament is unfortunately paralysed.”
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Keeping things truly British, Boris also jokingly stuck up for his tea-making style after he was filmed leaving the bag in before adding milk in a promotional video.
He quipped: “What’s wrong with that, by the way? Why does everybody object to that? You wouldn’t do that?
“And by the way, why does everybody object to leaving the teabag in? It’s delicious, if you want to keep drinking a cup of tea, it’s better.”
NHS HEELED ME
BORIS Johnson revealed he had to go to hospital after cutting his foot during a party.
The PM admitted he stood on a glass shard while “jumping up and down”.
The confession came as he was quizzed on BBC1’s Breakfast show about the last time he used the NHS.
Mr Johnson said it was last year and explained: “I have a wonderful hospital in Hillingdon, in Uxbridge which I represent. Foolishly, I was making a barbecue and there was a bit of broken glass on the ground — someone had dropped a cafetière.
“I was jumping up and down — I think there was music playing — and a piece of glass went straight into the bottom of my foot and into my sole, my heel. Hillingdon were incredible.”
Asked if he was a family man that ordinary voters could relate to, he added: “That’s a matter for other people. I can’t possibly say. It seems to me the most difficult psychological question that anyone’s ever asked me.”
He also refused to discuss how many children he has or if any of them are of school age. He insisted: “I don’t talk about my children.”
But he did add: “The assertion none of my children have been to state school is wrong.”
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