- Johnson proposes £40,000 income requirement
- Concerns over record-breaking migration
- Conservative MPs criticize ONS
The former prime minister proposes that individuals desiring to work in the United Kingdom be required to meet a minimal income requirement of £40,000.
Asserting that “demographic change” was responsible for “race riots” in Dublin, Boris Johnson has increased the pressure on Rishi Sunak regarding the “all-time high” net migration figures in the United Kingdom.
The former prime minister criticized this week’s net migration figures, stating they were “way too large,” and proposed a £40,000 minimal income requirement for those seeking a work visa in the United Kingdom.
According to the most recent data, net migration peaked at an unprecedented 745,000 in 2022. This figure was amended from an initial estimate of 606,000 in May, which was also considered an all-time high.
Ongoing Debate and Concerns
Concurrently, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that 672,000 individuals entered the United Kingdom. This data pertained to the twelve months preceding June 2023.
By adding the number of people entering and leaving the UK, the net migration figure is calculated. It also includes immigration (individuals entering the United Kingdom).
Johnson’s Commentary on Demographic Change
Even in progressive nations and capital cities, Mr. Johnson said, people would not tolerate such fast demographic change.
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He asserted that the stabbing incident outside a primary school resulted in three young children being injured, which sparked violent protests and confrontations with police in the “beautiful and joyful city” of Dublin. The incident “appears to have been consumed by race riots.”
Additionally, he cited the election triumph of Geert Wilders in the Netherlands. Wilders, openly Islamophobic, was an additional indication that voters were rejecting large-scale migration.
The citizens of Ireland and the Netherlands are among the kindest, most generous, and most pleasant in the world. However, there are sizable numbers of people in both nations who are beginning to worry that something has gone wrong and that the EU system of free movement—a borderless Europe for the entire 450 million-person territory—has too many drawbacks, he said.
Conservative Critique of ONS Figures and Policy Proposals
Conservative MPs on the right rebuked the ONS figures, with former home secretary Suella Braverman characterizing them as “a slap in the face to the British public who voted to control and reduce migration at every opportunity.”
She urged the government, of which she was a member until last week, to “act now” with policies such as limiting the number of dependents, increasing the salary threshold for entry into the country, and closing the graduate visa route, in addition to imposing an annual cap on net migration and the number of health and social care visas issued.
In his column, Mr. Johnson recognized that post-Brexit immigration enabled too many low-wage workers into the UK. He was still in power during this time.
He claimed that the Migration Advisory Committee is an autonomous entity. This committee provides counsel to the government on migration matters. They established an unsuitably low minimum wage threshold of £26,000. Businesses worried about labor shortages and EU workers departing after Brexit.
He said that the figures also show that we overestimated the UK’s magnetic attraction following Brexit and that many low-skilled workers remain drawn to the UK for low-paying jobs.
That is an error.” “Brexit allows us to change those incentives and address the issue differently than any other European nation.
