Jacob Rees-Mogg slammed reports that the Labour Party wants to allow EU nationals in the UK to vote in general elections.
Mr Rees-Mogg has criticised reports of plans to extend the vote to millions of EU citizens as ‘fundamentally cynical.’
The former Brexit minister and GB News presenter said:
“The Labour Party thinks this will be a clever scheme to get lots of EU member state nationals to vote Labour and it won’t turn out like that.
“I think it’s a complete waste of time, but it is fundamentally cynical.”
In a discussion on migration during Breakfast with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster, he continued:
“I completely support the Home Secretary’s view that there’s a view in the Treasury that increased migration grows GDP, which is true up to a point, but it doesn’t grow GDP per capita if the people are coming in to carry out low paid jobs and we don’t have the infrastructure or the housing for continued mass migration.
“So I think the Home Secretary is absolutely right. And importantly, it’s right economically, the migration that we have should be for the highest paid jobs, in we need to ensure that low paid jobs become better paid but are filled internally rather than from migration.”
He added: “By relying on low skilled migration over the last 30 years, we have seen very low increases in productivity. And part of the reason for that, I wouldn’t say the whole reason, but part of the reason for that is we haven’t mechanised as we should have done.
“So fruit picking remains an extremely labour intensive operation. And not all fruits can be picked mechanically, but some can, and why haven’t we been investing in the machinery, which can then be operated by higher skilled, better paid people? It’s about increasing productivity so that you can increase wages.
“I went to visit as Minister of a government efficiency and incredible automated warehouse, which instead of employing hundreds of people on low salaries, stacking shelves, is employed a few people on much better wages, operating various sophisticated computers, and robotics that would stack the shells automatically.
“And that’s really important, we need to get the productivity increases that allow for high wages, but high wages for people who are already in this country.”
Source: GB News
