Vote Leave blackened the concept of “free movement” with fake news about Turkey in the referendum. The campaign infamously tapped into latent Islamophobia by saying that country was “scheduled” to join the EU in 2020. It was pure invention. We are now less than two months away from 2020 and there is no sign that Turkey will ever join the EU. But the lie was told – and people voted Leave in 2016.
Now Michael Gove, who co-chaired the Vote Leave campaign, is trying a repeat trick. In an article in today’s Times, he deliberately spreads alarm about “free movement” in an attempt to drive the public into voting Tory at the election.
This is a cynical ploy. The Sunday Times reported earlier this month that former Vote Leave activists, including Dominic Cummings who is now Boris Johnson’s top adviser, would “revisit some of their greatest hits from the referendum campaign, including ‘Turkey week’ in which they highlighted the potential for Turkish accession to the EU.”
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It looks as if “Turkey week” has started. In his Times article, Gove makes three false statements about free movement.
“Britons are less safe”
On the contrary. Doesn’t the former Vote Leave boss know that, if we stay in the EU, we will keep access to the European Arrest Warrant and other key crime-fighting tools? How will we combat the sort of people-trafficking that led 39 people to die in a refrigerated truck in Purfleet if we can’t use the law enforcement machinery that the EU has painstakingly put together in the last 20 years? Britons will be less safe if Brexit goes ahead.
“Huge strain on the NHS”
Nonsense. More than 65,000 NHS workers in the UK come from other EU countries. That includes 11,000 doctors, 20,000 nurses, and 9,000 technical staff. On top of that, there are 100,000 EU nationals who are social care staff. Doesn’t Gove realise that EU doctors and nurses are leaving the NHS in droves and fewer new ones are coming because of Brexit? Doesn’t he see that this is exacerbating already severe staff shortages – adding to the strain on the NHS?
“Massive pressure on public services”
If we stay in the EU, our businesses will benefit from access to a market that accounts for half our trade. They will be free to hire high quality talent. The economy will be £70 billion a year bigger in the medium term, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. That money can be used to fund high quality public services, including bobbies on the beat and nurses to take care of sick people. If we stay in the EU, we can ease the pressure on our public services. It’s Brexit that will make it worse.
Oh, and remember that free movement cuts both ways. UK citizens are free to live, work and retire in 27 other countries. That’s a massive opportunity they will lose if we quit. It will be the younger generation who miss out most.
Free movement is good for our country – not bad. After the Turkey lie, nobody should believe anything that Gove says about migration. Voters shouldn’t fall for his latest tricks.
