Tory MEP Daniel Hannan says Brexit voters will be ‘disappointed’ if they think there will now be zero immigration from EU

The leave campaign has appeared to row back on key pledges made during the EU referendum campaign less than 24 hours after the UK voted for Brexit, after it emerged immigration levels could remain unchanged.

Leading Brexit figures had disagreed throughout the campaign on issues including immigration, free movement and the cost of the UK’s EU membership.

EU referendum: Pro-Brexit MEP admits free movement of labour may not end – live Read more

But within hours of the result on Friday morning, the Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, had distanced himself from the claim that £350m of EU contributions could instead be spent on the NHS, while the Tory MEP Daniel Hannan said free movement could result in similar levels of immigration after Brexit.

Hannan said: “Frankly, if people watching think that they have voted and there is now going to be zero immigration from the EU, they are going to be disappointed.”



His comments came after the leave camp made voters’ concerns about the impact of immigration on jobs, infrastructure and the NHS a key part of their campaigning.

There had been no suggestions of changing the status of any EU nationals in Britain, Hannan told the BBC, adding that no one had said this might be the case in the event of a leave victory.

“All we are asking for is some control over roughly who comes in and roughly in what numbers.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nigel Farage leaves a central London TV studio after his side won the EU referendum vote on Friday morning. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The issue is the latest area where leave campaigners appeared to be walking away from pledges made during the campaign, following Farage’s admission on Friday morning that the pledge plastered all over the official Vote Leave battle bus to spend money recouped from the EU on the NHS was “a mistake”.

Meanwhile, Liam Fox cast doubt on the necessity of triggering the article 50 clause of the Lisbon treaty that sets out the legal process for a country’s EU withdrawal.

“A lot of things were said in advance of this referendum that we might want to think about again and that [invoking article 50] is one of them,” said the Conservative MP.



“I think that it doesn’t make any sense to trigger article 50 without having a period of reflection first, for the cabinet to determine exactly what it is that we’re going to be seeking and in what timescale.

Ratings agency Moody’s has lowered the outlook for the UK’s credit rating from stable to negative amid what it said would prove a prolonged period of uncertainty following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.



Moody’s said the unpredictability of British decision-making had factored into its move, as had the likelihood of lower economic growth, which it said would outweigh any savings the UK might hope to get from not having to contribute to the EU budget.

“Over the longer term, should the UK not be able to secure a favourable alternative trade arrangement with the EU and other countries, the UK’s growth prospects would be materially weaker than currently expected,” the agency’s note said.

Standard and Poor’s has also warned that Britain’s top “AAA” credit rating was at risk.

Britain’s vote on Friday to leave the EU has sparked widespread turmoil and uncertainty, forcing the prime minister David Cameron to resign and wiping more than $2tn (£1.46tn) of value from markets around the world.

The governor of the Bank of England has stepped forward to calm financial markets after the Brexit vote sent the pound to its lowest level since 1985 and at one point wiped £120bn off the value of Britain’s leading shares.

Amid fears that it could spark a fresh global financial crisis, Mark Carney said Threadneedle Street was ready to do whatever was needed to mitigate the impact of Britain’s vote to leave the EU. City traders quickly responded by placing bets on an interest rate cut by the end of the year.