𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Britain returning to freedom of movement with the EU could cost an eye-watering £5billion a year, Nigel Farage has claimed. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has sparked a backlash from Brexiteers after calling for an “honest discussion” about free movement with the bloc.

But the Reform leader insisted that the move would not have a positive impact on the UK’s economy. Speaking on his GB News show, the Brexiteer claimed it could lead to an additional £3bn cost on welfare and £2bn on infrastructure a year.

Mr Farage said: “We had a Labour manifesto under Keir Starmer, a massive parliamentary majority, promising we would not rejoin the single market, the customs union, or re-enter into free movement.

“And five months ago as he presented himself to the people of Makerfield he said look, we’re not going to reopen all those debates.

“And yet now we learn that despite having no mandate whatsoever from the British people, in absolute breach of his promise five months ago, and in total breach of trust with the manifesto upon which this government was originally elected, we now have British officials in Brussels negotiating possibly re-entering into free movement.

“And it’s been presented by Burnham as being an economic good. Well, let me just show you a couple of things, a couple of facts that will surprise you.

“Firstly, under the EU Settlement Scheme, about five million people from the European Union are settled in this country.

“Three-quarters of a million of them are on Universal Credit, costing us £8bn a year.

“And if the numbers coming into Britain returned to pre-Brexit levels, estimates that I’ve had done for me today suggest that increase in population would lead to a benefits bill increasing by £2bn a year and infrastructure costs for a growing population up to £3bn a year.”

Mr Farage went on: “And have a think about this, there’s huge anger in Britain that young men come into Britain by boat from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Eritrea, and are allowed to stay, and are accommodated, and looked after.

“Think about it from the EU’s perspective, they’ve been even more stupid. They’ve allowed millions to cross the Mediterranean to stay in the EU, and countries like Spain and Germany have already granted these people fast-track citizenship.

“There are three-quarters of a million people from those countries who’ve been granted EU citizenship or are waiting for it to come on stream shortly, which means they would all be able to come to Britain.

“They’ve entered the EU illegally, they would be able to come to Britain. And this is, for me, one of the major reasons that we voted Brexit.”

It comes as the PM will set out proposals for the UK’s long-term relationship with the EU at a summit next month.

But any change will have to come after the next general election as he has pledged to stick to the red lines in Labour’s 2024 manifesto on not returning to the single market, customs union or free movement.