Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has given his strongest signal yet that a youth mobility scheme could form part of a new deal with the EU.
Speaking to the Times ahead of a summit on Monday between the bloc and the UK, he insisted such a scheme would not amount to a return to pre-Brexit freedom of movement.
While Sir Keir said it would be a “reciprocal” arrangement in which young people would be able to move abroad for up to two years, no specific details about the ages of those who could be eligible and whether there would be a cap on numbers were given.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has described the possible scheme as “free movement through the back door”.
“We’re not against youth mobility schemes. We’re against uncapped migration schemes,” she wrote on X.
Reform UK has echoed these sentiments. Its deputy leader, Richard Tice, said earlier this week such a scheme would be “the thin end” to EU free movement.
Sir Keir has denied these accusations, saying that Labour has a “red line in our manifesto about freedom of movement” and that “youth mobility is not freedom of movement”.
An agreement is expected to be announced at Monday’s summit, which is being held at London’s Lancaster House.
The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg has been told that it will only be an agreement in principle, not the final deal.
She understands that the EU has been pushing for stays as long as four years, while the UK is not contemplating more than one or two.
Prior to Brexit, young people in the UK had the right to travel and study freely, without a visa, in the rest of Europe and vice versa. A new deal could see a return to a similar state of affairs.
The prime minister has pointed to reciprocal youth mobility schemes (YMS) that the UK already has with the likes of Australia – where people between the ages of 18 and 35 are allowed to work in each other’s countries.
The UK currently offers visas allowing young people from 12 non-EU countries including Japan, South Korea and Uruguay to study or work in the UK for up to two years. Those from Australia, Canada or New Zealand can extend by a further year.
These visas are subject to annual quotas, ranging from 100 visas for Andorra to 42,000 for Australia, with ballots held where they are oversubscribed.
The former Tory government last year rejected an EU offer that would have made it easier for people aged between 18 and 30 to study and work abroad in the wake of Brexit.
Labour at the time said it had “no plans for a youth mobility scheme” if it won the general election.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan told the BBC’s Newsnight programme on Friday that the current government was giving “mixed messages” and that he wanted to hear it “speaking in one voice and say they would like a youth mobility scheme”.
He said such a scheme would “put rocket boosters up businesses in London”, where there are gaps in sectors including hospitality, creative industries, health and social care.
The Liberal Democrats have also welcomed the idea of a new form of youth mobility scheme, with Europe spokesperson James MacCleary calling it a “welcome step in the right direction”.
He added: “This news is a glimmer of hope for young people who have been so badly let down by Brexit. The Government now need to follow through.”
The UK’s European relations minister, Nick Thomas-Symonds, publicly confirmed last week that the government was considering setting up a youth mobility scheme as part of a new partnership agreement with the EU.
He told the Financial Times that “a smart, controlled youth mobility scheme would of course have benefits for our young people” – provided the government’s red lines are respected.
Asked whether the UK might in the future consider re-joining the Erasmus student scheme, Thomas-Symonds said there were not currently plans to do so but added the government was “always open to listening to sensible proposals from the EU”.
Universities and students the BBC has spoken to recently say Brexit has made studying in the UK less attractive.
For example, since August 2021, new students from the EU generally have had to pay international fees and do not qualify for tuition fee loans.
As well as youth mobility, issues such as fishing rights are also expected to be discussed during Monday’s meeting – the first since Brexit.
Sir Keir described the upcoming talks as a “really significant moment”, saying they would help to create greater wealth for British people.
“Nobody wants to relitigate the last nine years and I think [the things] they will be most concerned about — am I going to be better off, is this going to help my living standards, is it going to make sure my job’s preserved, are there jobs in the future, is my community going to benefit from that? — that’ll be test number one,” he said.
