Boris Johnson claims Britain CAN get an agreement with the EU that balances migration and single market access
The Foreign Secretary has thrown down the gauntlet to European Union countries, insisting a deal can be done
BRITAIN can strike a balance with Europe over migration and access to the single market, Boris Johnson has insisted.
The Foreign Secretary threw down the gauntlet to defiant European Union countries, telling them: “There’s a deal to be done.”
He said he was “very encouraged” by conversations with colleagues on the continent since taking his job.
Mr Johnson was speaking in New York after a vote at the UN Security Council on destroying precursors to chemical weapons in Libya.
Asked about a deal, he said: “I have no doubt that a balance can be struck over the next few weeks.
“This is something where everybody wishes to make fast progress on in the economic interests of Britain and the European Union.
“There is a deal there to be done and the faster we can get on and do it the better.”
Uncontrolled EU migration is widely seen as the key reason Britain voted to leave the bloc last month.
International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said this month: “I don’t think a deal can include anything to do with freedom of movement.”
And before becoming Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, David Davis said EU nations will soon realise Britain “will not budge on control of our borders”.
PM Theresa May will not invoke Article 50 to leave the EU this year.
French President Francois Hollande said after meeting her on Thursday: “It will be a choice facing the UK — remain in the single market and assume the free movement that goes with it or have another status.”
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German leader Angela Merkel has refused to take part in any negotiations until our position is clear.
Tory peer Lord Cooper, of the Stronger In campaign, said: “What people who are very, very concerned about immigration wanted was purely and simply for the UK to have total control of its borders.”
