Starmer appears to leave door open for potential EU youth exchange scheme

Keir Starmer has held the door open for some form of youth mobility exchange with EU countries after talks in Germany with Olaf Scholz, who stressed to the British prime minister his wish for closer such ties.

While Starmer said at a press conference with the German chancellor that the UK did not have plans to join the EU’s youth mobility scheme – with No 10 having previously ruled out such a move – speaking to reporters later, he pointedly did not rule out setting up some sort of system for other link-ups, for example student exchanges.

Starmer said after the press conference that nothing of this sort had been discussed during his long bilateral meeting with Scholz at the federal chancellery in Berlin, as the focus was on bilateral ties rather than wider European links.

But he added: “We want a close relationship, of course, and I do think that can extend across defence, security, education and cultural exchange and, of course, trade.”

Asked to explicitly rule out any sort of youth mobility scheme, under which young people from within the EU could live, work and study for a limited period in the UK, with reciprocal rights for young Britons, Starmer did not, pointing to the UK-Germany treaty he and Scholz had discussed.

He said simply that any future talks with the EU over an improved post-Brexit deal would be based on red lines including no return to the free movement of people. Free movement is not the same as time-limited exchanges.

“Look, the treaty is a bilateral treaty, so that’s got nothing to do with youth mobility or anything like that. That’s to do with trade, defence, economy, illegal migration etc,” he said. “In relation to youth mobility, obviously, we’ve been really clear – no single market, no customs union, no free movement, no going back into the EU. So the discussion about a close relationship within the EU or with the EU is in that context and within those frameworks.

“I’m convinced that we can have a close relationship, and I think you heard from the chancellor himself, notwithstanding those clear red lines that we’ve got and we’ve always had.”

In his opening remarks at the press conference, Scholz said he was “happy about the announcement by Keir Starmer to seek a reset in the relations to the European Union. We want to take this hand which is reached out to us.”

The German leader said he had been worried that “the contacts between our societies, between Germans and people in the UK, have declined massively after Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic”.

He added: “We want to change that, because if you know each other well, you understand each other better. We share similar views on this, and this is why we want to intensify the exchanges between Germany and the UK.”

Germany and other EU nations are believed to be keen for some type of youth mobility system to be established as part of a wider deal on post-Brexit relations, and while Labour had ruled this out, the UK would be expected to make some concessions as part of the negotiations.

Asked about the wider talks, Starmer pointed to a series of meetings with European leaders, adding: “I’m not going to set a timetable, or details out, but clearly, establishing a reset is a very important first step down that road.”

After the talks on Wednesday morning, the two governments sent out what was termed a “joint declaration on deepening and enhancing UK-Germany relations”, a precursor to a promised formal deal based on areas including defence and migration, which is scheduled to be agreed in the next six months.

This deal, the declaration said, “will reflect our status as the closest of partners in Europe, with the strongest possible bilateral cooperation on the issues that matter most to our populations”.