May faces immigration backlash
Print Edition
PRIME Minister Theresa May threw down the Brexit gauntlet to Brussels yesterday in a speech calling for “maximum freedom” in Europe’s single market despite a backlash against her hard line on immigration.
May’s address to the Conservative party conference came as the pound plunged on currency markets and amid growing criticism of proposals to make businesses publish lists of how many foreign workers they employ. But she insisted her policies would help working-class families whose alienation was reflected in June’s shock referendum vote to leave the EU, repeating the 1960s US civil rights slogan: “A change is going to come.”
Closing the convention in Birmingham, central England, May said Britain wanted both access to the single market and control over immigration in formal talks with Brussels which she will trigger by the end of March. This is despite European leaders’ insistence that access to the single market depends on the free movement of workers.
“I want to give British companies the maximum freedom to trade with and operate within the single market and let European businesses do the same thing here,” she said.
“We are not leaving the European Union only to give up control of immigration all over again and we’re not leaving only to return to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.”
Immigration was the key issue in the June 23 vote for Britain to leave the bloc, a result that sent shockwaves through Europe and the global economy and sparked political turmoil at home. Her government proposed measures including urging employers to publish a record of how many non-British citizens they hire and restricting the number of foreign students by tightening visa rules.
These have provoked a furious reaction from the opposition, which accuses May of a lurch to the right. London Mayor Sadiq Khan wrote on Twitter that the list plan sent a “deeply worrying message to the millions of people from around the world living and contributing in our country.”
Home affairs spokesman for the main opposition Labour Party Andy Burnham added that the tone of the Tory conference had become “increasingly xenophobic.”
“The idea of British companies producing lists of foreign workers runs counter to everything that this country has ever stood for. It would be divisive, discriminatory and risks creating real hostility in workplaces and communities,” he said.
The pound slumped to a 31-year low against the dollar yesterday.
Acting director of the British Chambers of Commerce Adam Marshall said the measures would be “bad news for the economy, job creation and business investment.”
May’s address at her first conference as leader sought to cast the Conservatives as a center ground party for working class families marginalized by globalization and the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. She described the Brexit vote as a “call for a change in the way our country works,” warning that if ministers did not respond, “resentments will grow.”
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
