Ex-London mayor pledges jobs boost after Brexit vote

Former Mayor of London Boris Johnson says nearly 300,000 new jobs will be created if Britain escapes from the "shackles" of the European Union (EU).

“If we Vote Leave we will be able to forge bold new trade deals with growing economies around the world. These are deals that the EU has tried and failed to achieve due to protectionist forces in Europe,” said Johnson at a Brexit campaign rally in London on Saturday, adding that, “After we liberate ourselves from the shackles of Brussels we will be able to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs right across the UK.”

Brexit campaigners at the rally pledged to start immediate trade negotiations that would create a boost in employment provided that voters back leaving the 28-nation bloc in the June 23 referendum.

“Predictably the gloomsters want to do down Britain - they claim we are not strong enough to stand on our own two feet. What total tosh. There is a huge world of opportunity and prosperity out there if we take this opportunity to take back control,” Johnson noted.

The campaigners claimed that research in Brussels showed the EU's failure to hammer out trade agreements with the US, Japan, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, India and the South American trade bloc had cost the UK 284,341 jobs.

ME