Mark Rutte vows war against Britain if Brexit vote toughens immigration rules | Daily Mail Online

Dutch PM Mark Rutte, pictured, warned the EU would impose immigration controls on Britons if the UK border was closed to them 

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte today warned Britain of retaliation from the EU if a Brexit vote produces tough new border rules.

Vote Leave cheerleaders Boris Johnson and Michael Gove hit the campaign trail today with a blueprint for imposing an Australian-style points system for work visas by 2020 if the UK decides to quit the EU on June 23.

The system would be designed to end automatic entry based on nationality and instead look to skills that fill specific vacancies - with other tests such as good English skills also imposed.

But Mr Rutte today warned if Britain imposed such restrictions, the rest of the EU would have no choice but to impose similar rules in return. 

He told the BBC: 'I was very much surprised by the Johnson/Gove proposals to make it harder for Europeans to work in the UK if Britain were to vote to leave the EU.

'I think it would be very bad news for the UK, for the Netherlands, for Europe as a whole, for two reasons.

'First of all, take the Netherlands and the UK, we are both sea-faring nations.

Our ability to create jobs, our future growth, is built on the free market. It’s built on open borders.

'And, secondly, it would be unavoidable, inevitable, for us and for many others in Europe to follow the same proposals, to implement a points-system also in the rest of the European Union.

'So you would get a race to the bottom. And that is exactly what you don’t want.'

Mr Johnson and Mr Gove, alongside Priti Patel and Labour Brexiteer Gisela Stuart, earlier promised to create a 'genuine Australian-style points-based immigration system' by the 2020 general election if voters back Brexit.

It would end the automatic right of EU citizens to live and work in the UK, with immigration instead based on skills and qualifications without discrimination on grounds of nationality.

The Brexiteers also claimed some 77,000 jobseekers came to the UK from the EU last year under free movement rules, despite it being Government policy that people coming from Europe should have a job offer in place first.

They repeated their attack on the Prime Minister for promising to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands, again saying it was 'corrosive of public trust'.

Senior Tories Boris Johnson, Priti Patel and Michael Gove took their campaign to the The Old Chapel Wetherspoon pub in Darwen last night as they campaigned for Brexit and their proposed alternative immigration policy

Mr Gove and Mr Johnson pulled pints while at the bar in an event with JD Wetherspoon chief Tim Martin, who backs Brexit 

Speaking on a visit to the clothing factory of the uniform supplier Simon Jersey in Accrington on the first day of a Vote Leave battle bus tour in Lancashire Mr Johnson rejected the idea he is making a pitch for a potential post-Brexit government.

He said: 'All we are saying is what any government could do and we are saying after we vote leave on June 23 it will be up to the Government to take back control.

'Not just of immigration policy but obviously of huge sums of money, of our ability to set our economic and political priorities and to stop the situation where 60 per cent of the law going through the Palace of Westminster comes from the EU.'

When pushed on whether he and his Brexiteer colleagues are setting out an an alternative vision for government he said: 'The answer to that is no.'

Team Brexit has been on the road in the north west of England today, visiting Preston and Accrington on the Vote Leave battle bus 

Boris admits he is NOT promising a points-based immigration system will definitely happen after Brexit as George Osborne slams the 'fantasy politics' of Vote Leave

Boris Johnson today admitted he was not promising a points-based immigration system would happen after Brexit but instead outlining an option that could be followed.

The Vote Leave champion, joined by Tory ministers Michael Gove and Priti Patel, today spelled out a detailed blueprint for the Australian-style borders system - and said it could be in place by 2020.

But pressed on the campaign trail in Accrington today, Mr Johnson conceded he was not detailing an alternative vision for government if Britain backs Brexit on June 23.

With polling day just three weeks away the detailed plan was seen as an attempt to flesh out a vision for what a post-Brexit Britain would look like.

But the scheme was derided as 'fantasy politics' by George Osborne - a leading Remain advocate - who seized on a report by international think tank OECD which warned against quitting the EU.

Boris Johnson, pictured on a campaign visit to the Simon Jersey factory in Accrington, today admitted he was not promising an alternative government despite suggesting his immigration plan could be in place by 2020 

Mr Johnson's proposals, which would have seen English imposed as a key skill for work visas, was rejected out of hand by Dutch premier Mark Rutte who warned the EU would be forced to retaliate against British workers.

Speaking on a visit to the clothing factory of the uniform supplier Simon Jersey in Accrington on the first day of a Vote Leave battle bus tour in Lancashire Mr Johnson rejected the idea he is making a pitch for a potential post-Brexit government.

He said: 'All we are saying is what any government could do and we are saying after we vote leave on June 23 it will be up to the Government to take back control.

'Not just of immigration policy but obviously of huge sums of money, of our ability to set our economic and political priorities and to stop the situation where 60 per cent of the law going through the Palace of Westminster comes from the EU.'

When pushed on whether he and his Brexiteer colleagues are setting out an an alternative vision for government he said: 'The answer to that is no.'

Joey Essex brands Boris 'a bit nutty' and complains politicians are using too many 'long words that no-one understands' as he joins the Brexit battle for new TV show  

Joey Essex has branded Boris Johnson 'a bit nutty' as he tried to meet him on the EU referendum campaign trail today.

The Only Way Is Essex reality TV star said he wanted to understand comments the former Mayor of London had made about Brussels rules on bananas.

The 25-year-old, who is making a documentary about the referendum, has already met Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, his predecessor Ed Miliband, Ukip leader Nigel Farage and former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg on the campaign trail.

But he said he had been left confused by them and was still undecided.

Reality star Joey Essex, left, branded Boris Johnson, right, a 'bit nutty' before meeting him on the Vote Leave battlebus during a tour of the north west, pictured 

He said: 'In my head I'm 50:50 about the whole situation because I don't know.

'They're politicians, they don't explain it properly. Nigel Farage went on about immigration but it was a politician's answer.

'I asked Ed Miliband a question the other day, but if anyone watches it they will not have a clue what he is talking about because he didn't even answer my question.

'So even if I did go, 'what's the NHS about?' he'd go, 'blah blah blah blah'. They talk so fast and say such long words that no one understands.'

Brexit would cost each worker £3,200 a year by 2030 and send economic shockwaves across the world, warns OECD as international institutions ramp up scaremongering over EU vote

Brexit would cost each worker in the UK £3,200 a year by 2030 and send economic shockwaves across the world, an alarming report by a leading international institution warned today.  

In a further example of international institutions ramping up their warnings of Britain leaving the EU, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) predicts that the British economy outside the EU would be 5 per cent smaller in 2030 than if it stays in the union.

Under a more pessimistic scenario, the cost of leaving would be even higher - rising to the equivalent of £5,000 per household, according to the organisation. 

Even by 2020 the economic impact of leaving the EU will cost each British worker the equivalent of a month's salary, the OECD forecasts.

It warned that Brexit could give the UK economy a 'major negative shock', forecasting national income would be more than 3 per cent lower than it would have been if Britain remained in the EU by the end of the decade - the equivalent of £2,200 per household.  

Britain leaving the EU would send economic shockwaves across the global economy, an alarming report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned today 

The OECD slashed its growth forecast for the UK economy for this year, predicting it will grow by 1.7 per cent - down from 2.2 per cent forecast in February. 

The British economy would suffer 'a large negative shock' if voters back Brexit in June's referendum, the OECD said in a grim verdict on Britain's economic future outside the EU published in its latest

 

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