Boris
Johnson breaks silence to set out leadership platform
Speaking
for the first time since Friday’s result, Johnson pledges
points-based immigration system and continued UK-EU trade
Press Association
Sunday 26 June 2016
23.26 BST
Boris Johnson has
broken cover for the first time since reacting to the vote for Brexit
to set out how the country may look if he wins the race to succeed
David Cameron as prime minister.
Amid clamour for the
leave campaign’s leaders to set out what happens next, Johnson
claimed Britain will be able to introduce a points-based immigration
system while maintaining access to the European single market.
Johnson sought to
reassure remain voters the UK will continue to intensify cooperation
with the EU and told his fellow leave supporters they must accept the
52-48 referendum win was “not entirely overwhelming”.
The Brexit campaign
figurehead, who is the favourite to succeed Cameron, insisted the
only change will be to free the country from the EU’s
“extraordinary and opaque” law, which “will not come in any
great rush”.
He also dismissed
Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s calls for a second
independence referendum, insisting he did not “detect any real
appetite” for one, while claiming Britain can now have a new and
better relationship with the EU based on free trade.
Johnson also
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.”
But with many
observers calling for an indication of how the vote to leave the EU
will be delivered, Johnson suggested he would seek to unify a divided
nation.
Writing his weekly
column in the Telegraph, Johnson said: “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.”
He went on: “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.
“Yes, there will
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. Yes,
we will be able to do free trade deals with the growth economies of
the world in a way that is currently forbidden.”
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