According to an exclusive report in the i news, negotiators in Brussels have said that they are seeking to make an EU-UK youth mobility scheme more palatable to the UK, amid political pressure on the Prime Minister to cut net migration.
In his speech to the Labour Party Conference on September 26, Starmer said, “It is – as a point of fact – the policy of this government to reduce both net migration and our economic dependency upon it.”
However, the EU is understood to be “confident” a deal can be reached and is purportedly drawing up a draft European Commission proposal including a youth mobility scheme for 18-30-year-olds in the UK and EU.
The draft proposal initially gave young people the right to travel in the UK and EU for four years, but it is now thought that the length of time could be cut to two or three years if this were to make the deal more appealing to the Prime Minister.
The document, which is likely to become a concrete offer before the end of the year, also calls for British universities to stop charging European higher international fees, which stakeholders said is highly unlikely to be accepted by the UK government.
In an interview with The i, home secretary Yvette Cooper rejected the proposal of a youth mobility deal, saying, “net migration trebled in the last four years, and underpinning that is overseas recruitment [which] went up about sevenfold”.
“The European reset is important. We want very close co-operation, but the UK voted to leave the EU, and that was also as part of the manifesto we were clear that there was no return to free movement or to the customs union or to the single market,” she added.
Mooted EU mobility schemes have repeatedly made the headlines in recent months, with Labour rejecting reports in July that Starmer was considering a free movement deal with Spain.
It is – as a point of fact – the policy of this government to reduce both net migration and our economic dependency upon it
Keir Starmer
In April 2024, former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declined an offer from the European Commission that would have granted adults under 30 free movement in the EU for up to four years.
At the time, Starmer said that Labour would also reject such a scheme, but the fact that he campaigned for Remain during Brexit and advocated for a second referendum has caused continued scrutiny over his stance.
Despite being under political pressure to cut net migration, some higher education stakeholders are hopeful that a mobility scheme could be more likely when the policies of the previous Conservative government restricting international students start to take effect.
According to Home Office data, study visa applications from January to July 2024 were already 16% lower than the same period in 2023.
During this time, there were 13,100 applications from dependents of students – 81% fewer than the previous year.
Since taking office, the Labour government has said it will maintain the graduate route, with the new education secretary Bridget Phillipson repeatedly maintaining that international students are welcome in the UK.
The UK already has a Youth Mobility Scheme with 10 countries including Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Canada that allow students to study and work in the country for up to two years.
In a marked divergence from the Labour party line, London mayor Sadiq Khan called for a youth mobility agreement to “free young people from the Brexit work and travel ban” in January 2024.