British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, who campaigned against Brexit in the 2016 referendum and later fought for the vote to be overturned, could sign up to a ‘youth mobility scheme’ with the European Union—the likes of which senior Labour figures, such as London Mayor Sadiq Khan, have long advocated for—within months.
Brussels officials have been clear that a “reset” of UK-EU relations, which Starmer’s government is desperately working towards, will come at a cost. Just days after Labour’s shallow election victory, one EU source said that any renegotiated Brexit deal will likely involve a relaxation of freedom of movement rules.
An offer being devised in Brussels—allowing European adults under the age of 30 to remain in the UK (and vice versa) for just two or three years, rather than four, as was previously considered—has been dubbed by Britain’s i newspaper as a “concession.” This line prompted one anti-Brexit campaigner to argue that since the EU is “willing to compromise” by coming down from its previous hope of allowing European adults to stay in the UK for four years, the British government should be “equally flexible”—that is, should again give up on its border.
But Robert Bates, who is research director at the Centre for Migration Control think tank, said that “youth mobility is literally synonymous with freedom of movement, an institution that the British public steadfastly rejected in 2016.” Bates told The European Conservative:
Those who will arrive under this scheme won’t be Bohemian novelists or French poets. They will be predominantly low-skilled and low-wage migrants from newer member states. This is the very last thing that Britain’s labour market needs.
The UK government has denied plans to strike a youth mobility deal with Brussels. Home secretary Yvette Cooper told the i that “we have been very clear net migration must come down.”
It is worth noting too that when Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez made the case for a UK-Spain migration agreement towards the end of July, Starmer is said not to have been dismissive of the idea.
The prime minister, said Bates, “is being made to look a fool by those on the continent who will stop at nothing to get their claws back into Britain’s border policy.”
This will only compound the current crisis afflicting our economy and communities, adding to the fiscal blackhole the chancellor keeps warning us about and dissuading big business from investing in our country’s young people.
