Boris Johnson of Brexit’s Leave Campaign Speaks Out – It’s Not About Immigration

Boris Johnson, photo via the Financial Times

Boris Johnson, head of Brexit’s Leave campaign, published his weekly column in The Telegraph today. His message may not be what you would have expected.

Johnson wrote: “I cannot stress too much that Britain is part of Europe, and always will be.” He continued: “EU citizens living in this country will have their rights fully protected, and the same goes for British citizens living in the EU.” Specifically, he wrote, “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.”

That last bit seems like wishful thinking. As a non-EU member, the UK will be entirely unable to guarantee how their citizens abroad will be treated. They may be able to live and work in the EU if they qualify for visas.

Vox characterizes the Johnson article as “backtracking” on immigration promises. I’m not quite sure I’d go that far. After all, Johnson makes clear that “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.”

But Johnson is surprisingly clear that Brexit wasn’t about immigration. (“It is said that those who voted Leave were mainly driven by anxieties about immigration. I do not believe that is so.”) Rather, “the number one issue was control – a sense that British democracy was being undermined by the EU system, and that we should restore to the people that vital power: to kick out their rulers at elections, and to choose new ones.” Thus, Johnson concludes:

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.

-KitJ