PM pledges to put ‘people before passports’ in new immigration regime
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged to put “people before passports” after Brexit, as part of the UK’s new immigration system.
Speaking this morning as he opened the UK-Africa Investment Summit, Johnson promised that “change is coming” as a result of the UK leaving the EU.
“If you want to come here to study in those universities, if you want to play a part in the hi-tech revolution, if you want to work with the titans of our financial world, then you’ll be pleased to hear, my friends, that one thing is changing,” he said. “Our system is becoming fairer and more equal as between all our global friends and partners.
“Treating people the same regardless, wherever they come from and by putting people before passports, we will be able to attract the best talent from around the world, wherever they may be.”
The government is currently awaiting a review by the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), into the feasibility of the UK adopting an Australian-style points based system. A response is expected this month, ahead of the UK’s departure from the EU on 31 January.
Johnson also used his speech to leaders of African nations to stress the prowess of London as a place to do business, above and beyond European rivals, as he pitched for the UK to be “the partner of today, of tomorrow and decades to come”.
Declaring that Africa was “the future”, he stressed the UK had “a huge and active role to play in that future”.
“Canary Wharf alone is a bigger banking centre than the whole of Frankfurt,” he said. “We have the tech. We have ed tech, med tech, fin tech, bio tech, green tech, nano tech. Tech of all kinds. And we have by far the biggest tech sector anywhere in this hemisphere, two or three times bigger than our rivals, and that works in synergy of course with our amazing higher education sector.”
Main image: Getty