UK ministers rule out joining youth mobility scheme with EU

Ministers have reiterated their opposition to any deal with Brussels allowing young people to live and work in EU countries, after a report said some elements of this could be agreed as part of a wider set of negotiations.

The Times on Wednesday cited unnamed government sources as saying UK ministers accepted they would have to “give ground” over parts of a proposed mutual youth mobility system if they were to get agreement in other areas, such as a reduction in checks on UK food entering the EU.

“If we are serious about resetting relations with the EU then we need to be prepared to give them some of the things that they want,” the source told the paper.

But a government spokesperson said this was not being looked at. “We are not considering it, there are no plans for this, or any work being done on it,” they said.

Asked whether the issue might come up in future talks with the EU, they said: “Our negotiating team has very clear red lines, and none of the preparatory work involves this.”

While Labour has been adamant it will never oversee a return to the free movement of people, the idea of a youth mobility scheme – which would allow EU citizens under 30 to work and study for a fixed period in the UK, and vice-versa – would be more similar to deals the UK has with countries such as Australia.

In April, the EU made a formal offer to negotiate a bloc-wide youth mobility programme, but this was immediately rejected by both Labour and Rishi Sunak, who was the Conservative prime minister at the time.

According to sources, the offer, which came out of the blue, was an attempt by the European Commission to quash a bid by the UK to do unilateral deals with six countries, including France, Spain and Germany.

The French, in particular, were adamant that the UK should not be allowed to “cherry pick” EU access post-Brexit.

Another apparent obstacle to the EU proposal is the element that would allow UK and EU students to have home-fee status again at each others’ universities for four years.

This would mean EU students at UK universities paying notably lower fees. Representatives of UK universities have said they would not be able to shoulder the extra cost and could not see how Labour would subsidise them. Sources say a three-year version of that would do nothing to solve the financial burden.

The Liberal Democrats called on Thursday for the government to agree a mutual youth-based system. Layla Moran, the party’s foreign affairs spokesperson, said this would rebuild ties with the EU and “give our young people fantastic opportunities to live and work across Europe, while also providing a much-needed boost to the UK economy – especially our hospitality sector”.

Outlining the Brussels proposal in April, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the scheme would be an area in which there could be “closer collaboration”.

“The topic of youth mobility is in both our interests, because the more we have youth mobility being on both sides of the Channel, the more we increase the probability we will be on good terms because the next generation knows each other very well,” she said.