Boris Johnson has voiced doubts over George Osborne’s plans to relax visa rules for Chinese visitors to Britain but said he broadly welcomed the progress being made.
The chancellor had announced a change to the rules which meant Chinese visitors would now be able to apply for a UK visa by filling out a form that would in the past have got them into 26 European countries under the Schengen agreement, but not the UK.
The Mayor of London, who is leading a trade delegation to China at the same time as Mr Osborne, said it was not clear if Chinese visitors would still need to fill out the Schengen form and the UK form.
He said: “We will have to see how this scheme actually works. The detail is a little bit unclear to us at the moment. I’m initially obviously very supportive and would hope that it will make sure that we are able to get large numbers of Chinese students, tourists, people who are going to bring income to our city.
“It’s not clear that it’s a single form either because there seems to be two forms but at least they are moving, at least they are showing signs of progress and that’s what I want to see as well.”
Mr Johnson did not voice his concerns during a speech at Peking University when he shared a platform with the chancellor, hours after the visa rules were announced.