The former Mayor of New York today warned that London “definitely” needed immigrants to remain a global financial centre.
Michael Bloomberg said foreigners who came to live in Britain were big contributors to society. He also said it was a massive advantage that 40 per cent of people living in New York were born outside the US.
His comments come the day after Ukip launched a controversial poster campaign warning that European migrants were taking British jobs.
Mr Bloomberg, chairman of the Serpentine Gallery, said: “We definitely need immigrants and that’s exactly true of London and the whole of the UK in particular.”
He told the Financial Times: “It requires a special kind of person to emigrate. Immigrants are pre-selected to be people who will contribute to society, look at the glass as half-full and see the good thing about a place.”
