British government urged to budge on an EU-UK youth mobility

Brexit – Britain's 2016 divorce from the EU – put the brakes on young Brits wanting to expand their horizons and work and study in Europe as well as on young Europeans wishing to explore Britain in the same way.

But now, as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer seeks to reset relations with the EU, his government is being urged to consider backing a bill drafted by the Liberal Democrats that would allow for youth mobility between the UK and the block.

"The Labour government talks about trying to grow the economy: this Bill is a chance for Labour MPs to put their money where their mouth is. Labour must walk the walk and back this Bill," the Liberal Democrats' European spokesperson James MacCleary said on Sky News.

Photo: James MacCleary's X account.

"Few thought that young people would be able to go for two years to live and work all the way over in Japan, but not be able to hop across the Channel and do the same in France," he added.

Last April, the former UK PM, Rishi Sunak. rejected a proposal from Brussels to allow the 18-30 demographic free movement between Britain and the EU. Labour also said back then that it would not be on board with such a proposal if elected.

When a Spain-UK deal was rumored to be on the cards last summer, James Cleverly, the former Home Secretary promptly weighed in: “They said they wanted to bring migration down and rejected a Youth Mobility Scheme with the European Union and now Keir Starmer is getting ready to open up our borders,” the Daily Mail reports.

The manifesto on which Labour won the July general election in the UK said there would be “no return to … freedom of movement.”

The UK already has some form of youth mobility scheme with 13 non-EU countries, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand as well as South Korea, though visas are required as are savings worth £2,530 ($3,252).

The EU has made it clear that a youth mobility between the UK and the EU could help the UK to renegotiate the Brexit deal to bring Britain and the EU closer on trade and other important issues, such as security.

Despite Sir Keir having briefly campaigned some years ago for another referendum in a bid to reverse Brexit, he subsequently promised to “embrace” the Brexiteer message pushed by ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, according to Politico.

Sir Keir’s flirtation with Spain and the current Liberal Democrats bill has offered hope to young Brits who feel confined by both Labour and the Conservatives stance on mobility to date.

“I think both parties are misreading the public – I really don’t think there is a big appetite for being anti-European,” a 35-year-old healthcare worker told The Guardian.

According to the news site, a significant number of young UK graduates said they would immediately move to a European country for work or training opportunities if a youth mobility scheme between the UK and the EU were adopted.

Early in 2024, London mayor Sadiq Khan made no bones about where he stood on the issue, calling for a deal for free movement between Britain and the EU for the young, stressing that it would redress the economic and cultural harm that Brexit had caused.

He said the Brexit deal hammered out by Boris Johnson had “done damage right across London and it is young people who have been hardest hit in so many ways,” reports The Guardian.

According to Statista, in May 2024, 55% of people in the UK believe leaving the EU was a mistake while 31% believe it was the right way to go. ‘Bregretters’ have been in the majority since late July 2022.

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