Editorial: Boris' open door plan makes sense

Boris Johnson. Photo / AP

For perhaps the first time in the 40 years since Britain "turned its back" on Commonwealth trade preferences for the much larger and more lucrative market of Europe, the decision is not paying off. London mayor Boris Johnson is not joking, for once, when he observes that "almost all parts of the Commonwealth are brimming with a new energy and optimism at precisely the time the European Union is struggling". He made the remarks in a foreword for a report by the Commonwealth Exchange that calls for New Zealanders and Australians to be given the same rights as European Union citizens to live and work in the United Kingdom.

Until four years ago, Commonwealth citizens with British ancestry had easy access to the UK. But a 2010 crackdown on immigration made it necessary to have a job and a sponsoring employer before a visa would be issued. Only 8000 Kiwis migrated to Britain last year, compared with 18,000 who went there in 2000. The number last year was outweighed by the 14,000 Britons who migrated to New Zealand.

The Commonwealth Exchange report recommends the establishment of a "bilateral mobility zone" between the UK and the antipodes, and another between the UK and Canada. The proposal can treat Australia and New Zealand as one destination because our two countries are already a single labour market. Citizens of both countries can freely travel, work and live in the other under the terms of Closer Economic Relations, and the Commonwealth Exchange proposal would essentially extend that reciprocal freedom to Britain.

The idea will be thoroughly welcomed in all the countries involved, though it could create a problem for Britain if all Commonwealth countries sought the same rights the report proposes for Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Long before the EU became a route for migration from the Third World to Britain, the inflow from poorer countries of the Commonwealth was raising similar alarm, famously from Conservative MP Enoch Powell.

Boris Johnson, who intends to stand for Parliament at Britain's general election next year, has endorsed a report that unashamedly confines its open door proposal to the countries sometimes called the "white" Commonwealth. It points out that Australia, New Zealand and Canada share a common language and legal system with Britain and are "highly economically developed democracies" with a common culture and familial bond.

All three countries will be wary of becoming subjects of debate in Britain's election where immigration is bound to be an issue. But with an advocate like Mr Johnson, who could be the Conservative Party's next leader, the opportunity should not be missed. His interest in the Commonwealth is primarily economic. Like many in his party, he dislikes surrendering any sovereignty to the European Union and is watching its common currency become the disaster he and many in Britain predicted.

The eurozone is still in a financial bind six years after the global crisis. The value of the euro is too high for just about all its economies except Germany, which is being constantly asked to bail out countries that refuse to take sufficient steps to make their welfare less extravagant and their economies more efficient. Now the German economy is starting to show the strain.

Britain, with its own currency, is doing better than its EU partners and will be attracting ever more migration from within and beyond their common border. Britain's liberal immigration tradition was built on the realisation that energetic, resourceful people are a source of economic strength. For that reason alone, Britain should reopen its door to prosperous parts of the Commonwealth. It is not sentiment, it is the secret of success.