Taking back control of our immigration system was one of the top reasons why we voted to leave the EU last year. Opinion polls and surveys (including our own) showed that people wanted democratic control of the UK's borders, and that many were voting Leave to achieve it.
Immigration is the main talking point today as the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, has announced a study on the impact of EU immigration to report back by September 2018. This study will seek to inform post-Brexit immigration policy but critics are pointing out that it could do little to influence either the White Paper on immigration or the Immigration bill due to be presented to Parliament in the next 12 months.
Defending the move, the Immigration Minister, Brandon Lewis, said on BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Freedom of Movement will end (I assume irrespective of the report's findings) by the Spring of 2019. This would seemingly be the last thing that the likes of Blair and co. wanted to hear.
Earlier this month, Blair said (with no evidence) that the EU was willing to compromise on free movement of people. In fact, even if this were true, Blair's own polling has shown that the British people don't want any such compromise. Indeed, a poll commissioned by the former PM showed that over 70% of those surveyed thought the UK's immigration system was too open, over 50% agreed that 'Brexit must mean Brexit' and even a plural majority of those asked wanted a so-called 'Hard Brexit' versus a so-called 'Soft-Brexit'.
Notwithstanding this, Blair and others are still making a fuss and want to disrupt the process. The Trade Unions are, from a different angle, trying to get the Labour Party to pledge to continue UK membership to the so-called EU Single Market in order to frustrate the process of leaving the EU. This position would force the UK to continue complying with European Court of Justice (ECJ) rulings and is completely unacceptable. Like with any row back on stopping the ability of the UK to control our borders, allowing the ECJ to continue its domination over our law making process would be a betrayal of the democratic process in this country.
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