Migration SHAMBLES: Boris REFUSES to back promise of limiting numbers to tens of thousands
THE Foreign Secretary went against the Prime Minister during his busy round of Sunday politics shows in a shocking attempt to play down rising migration figures.
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Boris Johnson challenged the Government's policy of reducing net migration to "tens of thousands" in inadvertent opposition to Theresa May's promises.
He refused to endorse the Government's manifesto target of cracking down on net migration.
This week's release of annual figures saw a record net number of 335,000 migrants arrive in Britain in the past year.
Boris Johnson challenged the Government's policy of reducing net migration to "tens of thousands"
During his appearances on both The Andrew Marr Show and Peston on Sunday, Mr Johnson distanced himself from the targets.
He also told Peston on ITV that international students should be removed from any future migration statistics to help the government publish more palatable figures.
This contradicted Theresa May's long-time support of including student numbers in migration figures.
Boris Johnson appeared to contradict Government policy
Boris Johnson tried to distance himself from migration targets
We need to be open but have control of our borders. The British people are not xenophobic. They understand
When pressed on whether he agreed with the Government's ambitious migration target, he refused to answer.
Instead, the cabinet minister said Britain should not be afraid to be open to high-skilled labourers.
Mr Johnson also admitted low-skill foreign workers - such as fruit pickers and supermarket staff - would still be allowed into the country to prop up the economy.
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He told Mr Peston: "We need to be open but to have control of our borders.
"The British people are not xenophobic. They understand."
Mr Johnson added: "You have got to have a system of control that allows you to get down below our current figure.
"I would be in favour of a reduction but you can still have a very open and dynamic economic with immigration running at a reasonable level.
"That's what we want to see."
Despite Brexit, the cabinet minister also hinted at future cooperation with Europe on the Erasmus student exchange programme