The British government has rejected calls to bring back free movement for those aged 18 to 30 between the UK and the EU, dashing the hopes of campaigners for a return to pre-Brexit freedoms.
Earlier this year the EU proposed a deal allowing young Europeans to work, study or volunteer in the UK — with a reciprocal agreement for young Britons — for a period of up to three years. But it was rejected by the Conservative government and by Labour, which was in opposition.
On Thursday a government spokesman denied a report in The Times that the plan was being reconsidered by the Labour government: “We are not considering an EU-wide youth mobility scheme and there will be no return to freedom of movement.”
A Downing Street official said: “We are not considering this at all.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has promised to reset relations with Brussels, something pro-European campaigners believe will require Labour to relent on the issue.
Naomi Smith, chief executive of campaign group Best for Britain, said the policy was known to be popular across the country. “A youth mobility scheme will not only take the Brexit brakes off young Brits’ futures, it will show the EU that once again, the UK is open for business,” she said.
A recent poll by a group called More in Common found that 58 per cent of people thought a UK-EU youth mobility scheme was a good idea and only 10 per cent a bad one. Even supporters of Reform UK, Nigel Farage’s right-wing political party, liked the scheme on balance.
Yet ministers are still wary of signing up to anything that could suggest a wider retreat from Brexit, given that Starmer has promised to uphold the 2016 referendum result on leaving the EU.
Labour wants to improve relations with Brussels through various tweaks to the Brexit deal including a veterinary agreement to reduce checks on UK exports, and a reciprocal agreement to enable professional qualifications to be used in both the EU and UK.
But Starmer’s team has consistently said that Britain will not re-enter the single market or customs union and will not accept freedom of movement. Immigration was one of the biggest factors behind the 52:48 vote for leaving the EU eight years ago.
Starmer is expected to meet Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, next month. However, any formal negotiations are unlikely to begin until late autumn at the earliest when new commissioners are in place.
The European Commission said it was “looking forward” to “further develop the relationship” with the new UK government, but stressed Brussels would only engage in negotiations on youth mobility once its proposal had been approved by EU member states.
Officials in Brussels have emphasised that the EU is not keen to renegotiate elements of the Brexit relationship until existing agreements have been fully implemented.
Mark English, UK policy expert at the campaign group European Movement, said: “No one expects the [UK] government simply to accept the detail of a proposal not yet even endorsed by EU member states.
“But dismissing the idea of reciprocal youth mobility simply means letting down British young people who face all sorts of economic difficulties and have seen their horizons curtailed by Brexit.”
In April the European Commission published a proposal for a wide-ranging reciprocal travel agreement for anyone aged 18 to 30 to move between Britain and EU countries. The rejected proposal suggested there should be no caps or quotas on the numbers of young people who could travel, as well as no visas or health surcharges. It also included access for EU students to UK universities at the domestic fee rate of £9,250, rather than paying international fees that can be two or three times that amount.
The UK already has a limited youth mobility deal with more than 10 countries including New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Taiwan. Conditions differ between states, but applicants can pay for a £298 visa lasting up to two years, providing they have savings of £2,530 and pay a £776 surcharge to be eligible to use the NHS.
Some countries have unlimited places but others have a cap with applicants entering a ballot to win a chance to apply for a visa. Successful applicants can study, work and even set up a microbusiness, though the scheme does not confer the right to residency or to bring over family members.
Senior UK officials say that any deal with the EU would require a compromise to be reached between Britain’s more restrictive approach and Brussels’ ambitions for a deal offering great freedoms.
A number of EU states including Spain and Germany have been tempted by a British offer of bilateral deals, but have now decided that youth mobility must be proposed by all member states equally.
Luke Petherbridge, director of public affairs at Abta, the travel agents’ association, said there has been a 69 per cent decline in the number of British people working in travel jobs in Europe since Brexit.
“It’s important to stress that a youth mobility arrangement does not equate to freedom of movement,” he added. “We have existing youth mobility agreements and nobody could reasonably argue those are equivalent to the EU’s freedom of movement rights.”