Remaining in the EU would make it more difficult for young people to get a foothold on the housing ladder or find affordable rents because the government will be unable to control European immigration, according to a leading Brexit campaigner.

In an interview with the Guardian, Chris Grayling urged younger voters to consider the “practical consequences” of an vote to remain in the EU and said that rising house prices were partly caused by migration into the UK. His comments triggered an angry reaction from remain campaigners, who accused him of reaching for the “Farage playbook”.

“It is already tough to buy a house,” leader of the House of Commons said. “But if we are bringing a population the size of Newcastle upon Tyne into the country every single year, if we cannot set limits on the number of people that come and work in Britain, then simple maths says it is going to be even more difficult to get on to the housing ladder.

“So to everyone who is of the younger generation, who is thinking how they are going to vote, my message is think about your goal of getting onto and working up the housing ladder? How do you think it will possibly be easier if we have no power in this country even to slow the flow of people coming here?”Grayling, who has become one of the highest profile leave campaigners, said the pressure on housing was driven by an ageing population, but also migration into the UK. “If you keep doing that, it must mean you have relatively fewer houses,” he said, arguing that the “more people chasing not only properties to buy but properties to rent, the more difficult it gets, the higher rents get””

Grayling said young people had been wooed by a message that they would lose access to cheap travel or their InterRail card, things that he said would not change. “Of course you are not going to lose the InterRail card, the InterRail card goes to Russia, which is not part of the European Union,” he said.

In a wide-ranging interview about the campaign for the 23 June referendum, Grayling also:



said that Conservative colleagues calling for David Cameron to face a leadership challenge were making a mistake, and that such discussions were a distraction from the campaign to leave the EU

called on the prime minister to stay in position whatever the outcome, claiming a resignation would cause uncertainty and that Cameron’s “good relationships” with European leaders would be necessary in the aftermath



said that the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was doing the “bare minimum” in his campaign to remain in the EU and suggested that he had come across “no shortage of Labour supporting” Brexiteers outside London

Grayling’s comments appear to show that the leave campaign is attempting to broaden its arguments, as a new ICM poll for the Guardian reported that voters were split 52% to 48% in favour of Brexit, whether surveyed online or by phone. Previous online surveys have shown a lead for leave, while phone polls have largely produced clear leads for those wanting to remain in the EU.

His remarks on immigration triggered a furious reaction from the executive director of Britain Stronger In Europe, Will Straw, who said legitimate concerns on immigration would not be dealt with by “wrecking our economy”.



“Vote Leave know they have lost the argument on the economy, which is why they have reached for the Farage playbook and are seeking to blame immigrants for everything,” he said.

“There is no evidence for Chris Grayling’s claims. In fact, studies have shown the impact on house prices is likely to be negligible or even cause them to fall.”



Earlier in the campaign, the former Tory prime minister Sir John Major warned Conservative supporters of Vote Leave not to overstep the mark with their arguments about immigration, claiming that some appear to be “morphing” into Ukip.

Grayling said he disagreed. “It is not about race, colour, creed, background, it is about the housing market, it is about pressure on the national health service, it is about the number of cars on the road, it is about school places,” he said.

He insisted he was not calling for the borders to be closed, but for limits to be placed on the number of immigrants. He said Cameron’s target of bringing down net immigration to tens of thousands was difficult because freedom of movement was sacrosanct to the EU.

He said that post-Brexit Britain could impose restrictions such as saying immigrants could only come if they had a job in place. “At the moment, 77,000 people each year turn up looking for a job,” he said.

He admitted that the British government would not be able to freely spend the £350m a week, which Vote Leave says is the UK’s contribution to the EU, on other priorities such as the NHS.

Instead, he said that a significant amount of the money, which is currently paid back to the UK to subsidise farmers and other groups, would continue to be spent on the same things.

“We cannot conceive of a situation where that government would not provide comparable support to farmers, nor that that government would not provide comparable support to our universities for science, for example.

“It seems to me to be absolutely certain that this Conservative government in office, after the referendum, when we’ve voted to leave, would want to continue to spend money in same way that it is now.”

That would mean the money that could spend elsewhere if the UK left the EU would be lower, he said, insisting it would still be a significant amount.