Brexit campaigners want the UK to adopt an Australian-style points based immigration system

LIFE could get much trickier for would-be migrants to the UK as Brexit campaigners push for an immigration system already employed here in Australia.

The debate over whether or not Britain should remain in the EU has pitted fellow Conservatives and former friends David Cameron and Boris Johnson against one another. Picture: John Stillwell/PA Wire.

BREXIT campaigners have unveiled plans for an Australian-style, points-based immigration system for EU workers if they win a referendum next month to pull Britain out of the European Union.

“The automatic right of all EU citizens to come to live and work in the UK will end,” read a statement from campaign leaders, including former London mayor Boris Johnson, a Conservative heavyweight seen as a possible successor to Prime Minister David Cameron.

The statement said “the ability to speak good English” and skills-testing would be required for prospective immigrants under a plan to be put in place before the next general election in 2020.

Australia’s hard-line policy on asylum-seekers allows skilled migrants into the country by assigning points based on criteria including age, competency in English, occupation, qualifications and experience.

The system is designed to fill labour shortages.

TOPSHOT - A man walks past a mural showing likely US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump (L) kissing the Former Mayor of London and Conservative MP, Boris Johnson, on the side of a building in Bristol, south west England on May 24, 2016. The mural in Bristol, southwest England, was commissioned by We Are Europe, a campaign group which wants Britain to remain in the European Union at the June 23 vote. / AFP PHOTO / GEOFF CADDICK / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION

The UK Daily Telegraph newspaper said the Vote Leave campaign statement “will infuriate Downing Street”, because it represented a direct challenge to Cameron’s authority.

Cameron has said he does not intend to step down even if he loses his bid for Britain to remain in the EU, but leading Conservatives have said he may have to.

Vote Leave said the immigration plan would create “fairness” between EU workers and immigrants from non-EU countries including the Commonwealth.

It said there would be no changes for Irish citizens’ right to work in Britain and for workers from other parts of the EU already in the country.

“Such a system can be much less bureaucratic and much simpler than the existing system for non-EU citizens,” said the statement.

Immigration is a key issue in the campaign for the “Leave” side, while the “Remain” camp emphasise the economic benefits of staying in the EU.

There were around three million workers from other parts of the EU in Britain last year — more than double the number from 2004, according to the Migration Observatory.