Howard says Italy has a ‘terrible’ problem and unless Cameron ‘regains control of his borders’, Britain won’t be able to curb the influx of migrants

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The former Australian prime minister, John Howard, has told a conservative thinktank in London that the British prime minister, David Cameron, can’t curb an influx of migrants “unless he regains control of his borders”.



After addressing the Centre for Policy Studies on Tuesday night, Howard was asked what advice he would give Cameron when millions of people were trying to get into Britain, as well as other European nations.



“Well, he can’t really do anything about that unless he regains control of his borders, it’s as simple as that,” Howard said.



“I know I’m straying into domestic politics and I’m not meant to do that ... maybe former prime ministers can?”



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Howard, who introduced tough measures to deter boat people when he was prime minister, said not having control of borders was one of the consequences of being part of a multinational body – the European Union.



He said he felt for the Italians who had a “terrible” problem with tens of thousands of migrants crossing by boat from North Africa.



“I wouldn’t like to be in that situation. I think there’s an extraordinary humanitarian challenge but there’s a limit to how many people any country can take.”



Howard said the Asian region had its own challenges with the “persecution” of the Rohingya people in Burma and the migrant problem that created.



On the UK and its own migrant issues he said they were “matters that the British government and the British people have to grapple with”.