BORIS Johnson has claimed that York’s tourism and confectionery industry will prosper if Britain leaves the EU.

Speaking to The Press during a visit with the Brexit battlebus to York city centre yesterday, he said leaving would be "terrific" for the city’s tourism, which currently generates more than £600 million a year for the city’s economy and supports 20,000 jobs.

He said that when he was Mayor of London, he had problems getting tourists to the capital from growing markets outside the EU because of visa difficulties.

“Imagine the boom we could have in tourism in this part of the world if we had a sensible policy and opened it up to a global market,” he said.

He also claimed Brexit would benefit York manufacturers such as confectioners Nestlé and Tangerine, who he said would still be able to export to Europe and the rest of the world while no longer being subject to the diktats of remote, unelected officials in Brussels.

Later, hundreds of supporters and tourists gathered for a rally in Parliament Street as Mr Johnson emerged from the bus to cheers, and also boos from a lone heckler.

He declared: “We have got one month to go, folks, until we take back democracy and take back control of our country.”

He claimed the Remain campaign was ‘rattled,” as there had been more propaganda than there had been since 1992 when ‘they’ had said leaving the European Exchange Rate Mechanism would lead to economic catastrophe and it had instead been a ‘liberation.’

He urged one heckler, Sam Grigg, a university student, who had booed the politician’s arrival, not to throw an egg at him.

He told Sam, 22, who had brought three eggs to the stump speech: “There are people hungry in this country, my friend; don’t waste that egg.”

Sam said he had never planned to throw the eggs and he was protesting not against Brexit but Tory Government benefit cuts.York Press:

Mr Johnson addresses crowds in Parliament Street

Earlier, York Labour Party member Helen Webster had angrily challenged the claim on the side of the battlebus” that Britain gave the EU £350m each week and leaving would mean more  money for the NHS.

She told Mr Johnson the slogan was a “lie” and claimed was only leading the Brexit campaign because he wanted the job of Prime Minister

Later, Mr Johnson addressed a crowd of hundreds in a rally at York Racecourse.

Outside a group of protesters, some dressed as bananas, parked what they called a "Truth Truck" countering Brexit claims.

York Press:

Meanwhile, a Treasury report has warned that house prices could plummet by £21,000 and unemployment will soar across the region if the UK votes to leave the EU. A vote for leave in the referendum on June 23 could also cause unemployment to rise by 43,000 across Yorkshire and the Humber, the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign said.