>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.”
More Brexit gloom with this government turning down the UK-EU youth mobility scheme recently offered by the EU.
It would have given under 30s similar freedoms to live and work abroad in Europe as people enjoyed before Brexit.
A Labour government spokesperson has said they aren’t considering this at all.
This is despite 58% of British people polled citing the UK-EU youth mobility scheme would be a good idea.
Perfidious0Albion on
Makes sense really – immigration is a hot topic right now and this would almost certainly increase net migration significantly.
In a way it’s the EU doing the cherry picking this time – asking for freedom of movement without the benefits of free trade.
0ut0f7heCity on
Considering that there would be more coming here than going there, I totally understand why it was rejected. Our little island looks like a big airport lounge anyway.
SpaceDonkey_994 on
Ofc they will.. god forbid some eastern european kids come and take some minimum wage jobs in hospitality. Cant imagine the disruptions.
Piod1 on
Serfs can’t make choices, or they might all fk off somewhere nicer, and where would we be then 🤔
shortymcsteve on
This is depressing. Freedom of movement being taken away was by far the worst part of Brexit at an individual level. I’m shocked the EU even presented this as an option, but not surprised by the government response.
Madness_Quotient on
Could we have 4 years of mandatory free European language classes for all adults, first please?
I reckon if we get our entire working age population all up to speed in at least 1 language spoken on the continent, then opening up some sort of free movement scheme would be game on.
Cubiscus on
Obvious decision, it’ll be mostly one way traffic increasing labour supply for graduates and low-skilled jobs.
Those under 35 have plenty of opportunity to try other countries, which they do.
Iactuallyreaddit on
Good. All it would lead to is downward pressure on unskilled labour & graduate wages. Only benefits the upper middle class & rich.
reapress on
So is it safe to say same shit new twats in charge yet
[deleted] on
[removed]
Battle_Biscuits on
Think it’s worth seeing the big picture here, because it’s not a simple case of the EU asking for freer movement with the UK.
1: The Youth Mobility scheme is likely the price the EU is asking for us to have better access to their markets. They know Labour want to “improve” the current Brexit deal, but the EU isn’t going to start removing trade barriers for us without asking for something in return. Their position is that you can’t have free movement of goods and services without free movement of labour.
2: I think there’s a secondary purpose here in dissuading EU states from negotiating separate free movement deals with the UK, as seemed to be happening with Spain. It would encourage interested EU states to back the EU proposal rather than make piecemeal agreements with the UK.
People who oppose this on the basis of it attracting “more” immigrants ought to think about this a bit more. We’ve ended freedom of movement with the EU, and immigration has gone up regardless. It doesn’t logically follow that free movement with Europe means more immigrants. But at the end of the day, the UK will always need a substantial number of migrant workers to fill vacancies in the economy. You then need to ask, where do we want these workers to come from?
By making it easier for UK employers to recruit European workers, you encourage a higher proportion of issued work visas to go to European workers, as opposed to Africa or the Middle East. There are several advantages to hiring European workers- they speak English relatively well, they come from a similar cultural background to our own, they are less likely to bring dependents over and are more likely to return home than settle here permanently. If they do though and raise a family, they integrate seamlessly into mainstream British society.
The Youth Mobility scheme isn’t simply an issue of creating “more” immigrants- it’s a chance to increase the proportion of immigrants who come from Europe. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything wrong in showing favouritism to certain countries. It’s not uncommon for geographically proximate, culturally similar countries to have favourite immigration policies with each other, or to show favouritism to certain countries over others.
digidigitakt on
Jesus, they’d leave and wonder wtf would they want to come back again.
Which is what I do, every time I travel.
yetanotherweebgirl on
Less about immigration more about emigration.
Cant have the slave classes escape the neo-feudal system that the parasite class rely on for their cushy lifetsyle they inherited from mommy and daddy.
They’re about to penalise the poor with tax hikes again to fund the system their mates broke with greed and shady outsourcing deals.
Last thing they want is the cogs in their exploitation machine having the right to look for better standards of living outside uk borders.
All we’ve done with the last election is swap a bunch of selfish, tactless fascists for a bunch of conniving authoritarian ones.
Both strive to maintain the status quo of rich becoming richer, poor becoming poorer and deflecting attention from their corruption by shouting “Immigrants” or “Transgender”
OneTrueVogg on
Won’t this just result in anyone who’s young, smart, and doesn’t want to work in finance immediately leaving?
rationalplan10 on
The EU wanted the old deal, where EU students were charged the same as UK students, not at foreign student rates. The universities can’t afford it, and the government is not going to pay the hundreds millions it would cost.
WithYourMercuryMouth on
Like when we were actually in the EU, it’s primarily one direction.
It’s people from the relatively poorer Eastern and Southern European countries coming here, more so than British people leaving.
This is just increased net migration in all but name, as if we need any more.
Glanwy on
I am pretty sure both Tories and Labour looked at this deal and there was something in it that was toxic to the UK. Hence both parties have said no.
Repulsive_Cod_7466 on
it’s almost like Starmer lied to get elected and all the liberals ate it all up without a single critcal thought — no room to complain, you lickspittles got the government you wanted
Logical_Hare on
Time to celebrate being turned back into serfs, everybody!
You will remain on your lord’s manor lands, you may not leave, you may not get married to a foreigner unless you’re rich, and did you know you don’t even contribute anything to the economy unless you make over 50K? Thank the Lord our betters permit us worthless serfs to live here!
No_Hunter3374 on
Such a disappointment. It clearly is something they only use in further trade negotiations (such as with AUS and NZ).
Clearly the UK has no other cards on the table. All it has is offering EU youth a fun time for 3 years in the UK. How sad is that?
dotBombAU on
Labour I’d holding this as a bargaining chip. It will happen, but good card to hold for trade later.
voyagerdocs on
As a 23 year old, this pisses me off so much.
I couldn’t vote for Brexit as I was too young, now I can’t move to another EU country (which I desired to do), without having to go through long, expensive, and tedious visa requirements.
Now the government still won’t budge on it.
It’s not the end of the world for me, but I do know that a lot of young people here are fucked off that the referendum and the government in general is trapping us here like the UK is an open air semi-prison.
boonitch on
Morons… why deny our youth these opportunities? Opportunities they had I might add.
It’s a perfect example of selfishness.
bluecheese2040 on
Remainer and leaver bias aside…what are the reasons for not accepting this?
Its_Dakier on
It was rejected because it was a bad deal lmao.
Typical of the EU negotiating in bad faith and trying to get a one-sided deal past a pro-EU PM.
Fair play to Starmer.
SittingBull1988 on
Why do these freedom of movement advocates make out we live under martial law
27 Comments
>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.”
More Brexit gloom with this government turning down the UK-EU youth mobility scheme recently offered by the EU.
It would have given under 30s similar freedoms to live and work abroad in Europe as people enjoyed before Brexit.
A Labour government spokesperson has said they aren’t considering this at all.
This is despite 58% of British people polled citing the UK-EU youth mobility scheme would be a good idea.
Makes sense really – immigration is a hot topic right now and this would almost certainly increase net migration significantly.
In a way it’s the EU doing the cherry picking this time – asking for freedom of movement without the benefits of free trade.
Considering that there would be more coming here than going there, I totally understand why it was rejected. Our little island looks like a big airport lounge anyway.
Ofc they will.. god forbid some eastern european kids come and take some minimum wage jobs in hospitality. Cant imagine the disruptions.
Serfs can’t make choices, or they might all fk off somewhere nicer, and where would we be then 🤔
This is depressing. Freedom of movement being taken away was by far the worst part of Brexit at an individual level. I’m shocked the EU even presented this as an option, but not surprised by the government response.
Could we have 4 years of mandatory free European language classes for all adults, first please?
I reckon if we get our entire working age population all up to speed in at least 1 language spoken on the continent, then opening up some sort of free movement scheme would be game on.
Obvious decision, it’ll be mostly one way traffic increasing labour supply for graduates and low-skilled jobs.
Those under 35 have plenty of opportunity to try other countries, which they do.
Good. All it would lead to is downward pressure on unskilled labour & graduate wages. Only benefits the upper middle class & rich.
So is it safe to say same shit new twats in charge yet
[removed]
Think it’s worth seeing the big picture here, because it’s not a simple case of the EU asking for freer movement with the UK.
1: The Youth Mobility scheme is likely the price the EU is asking for us to have better access to their markets. They know Labour want to “improve” the current Brexit deal, but the EU isn’t going to start removing trade barriers for us without asking for something in return. Their position is that you can’t have free movement of goods and services without free movement of labour.
2: I think there’s a secondary purpose here in dissuading EU states from negotiating separate free movement deals with the UK, as seemed to be happening with Spain. It would encourage interested EU states to back the EU proposal rather than make piecemeal agreements with the UK.
People who oppose this on the basis of it attracting “more” immigrants ought to think about this a bit more. We’ve ended freedom of movement with the EU, and immigration has gone up regardless. It doesn’t logically follow that free movement with Europe means more immigrants. But at the end of the day, the UK will always need a substantial number of migrant workers to fill vacancies in the economy. You then need to ask, where do we want these workers to come from?
By making it easier for UK employers to recruit European workers, you encourage a higher proportion of issued work visas to go to European workers, as opposed to Africa or the Middle East. There are several advantages to hiring European workers- they speak English relatively well, they come from a similar cultural background to our own, they are less likely to bring dependents over and are more likely to return home than settle here permanently. If they do though and raise a family, they integrate seamlessly into mainstream British society.
The Youth Mobility scheme isn’t simply an issue of creating “more” immigrants- it’s a chance to increase the proportion of immigrants who come from Europe. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything wrong in showing favouritism to certain countries. It’s not uncommon for geographically proximate, culturally similar countries to have favourite immigration policies with each other, or to show favouritism to certain countries over others.
Jesus, they’d leave and wonder wtf would they want to come back again.
Which is what I do, every time I travel.
Less about immigration more about emigration.
Cant have the slave classes escape the neo-feudal system that the parasite class rely on for their cushy lifetsyle they inherited from mommy and daddy.
They’re about to penalise the poor with tax hikes again to fund the system their mates broke with greed and shady outsourcing deals.
Last thing they want is the cogs in their exploitation machine having the right to look for better standards of living outside uk borders.
All we’ve done with the last election is swap a bunch of selfish, tactless fascists for a bunch of conniving authoritarian ones.
Both strive to maintain the status quo of rich becoming richer, poor becoming poorer and deflecting attention from their corruption by shouting “Immigrants” or “Transgender”
Won’t this just result in anyone who’s young, smart, and doesn’t want to work in finance immediately leaving?
The EU wanted the old deal, where EU students were charged the same as UK students, not at foreign student rates. The universities can’t afford it, and the government is not going to pay the hundreds millions it would cost.
Like when we were actually in the EU, it’s primarily one direction.
It’s people from the relatively poorer Eastern and Southern European countries coming here, more so than British people leaving.
This is just increased net migration in all but name, as if we need any more.
I am pretty sure both Tories and Labour looked at this deal and there was something in it that was toxic to the UK. Hence both parties have said no.
it’s almost like Starmer lied to get elected and all the liberals ate it all up without a single critcal thought — no room to complain, you lickspittles got the government you wanted
Time to celebrate being turned back into serfs, everybody!
You will remain on your lord’s manor lands, you may not leave, you may not get married to a foreigner unless you’re rich, and did you know you don’t even contribute anything to the economy unless you make over 50K? Thank the Lord our betters permit us worthless serfs to live here!
Such a disappointment. It clearly is something they only use in further trade negotiations (such as with AUS and NZ).
Clearly the UK has no other cards on the table. All it has is offering EU youth a fun time for 3 years in the UK. How sad is that?
Labour I’d holding this as a bargaining chip. It will happen, but good card to hold for trade later.
As a 23 year old, this pisses me off so much.
I couldn’t vote for Brexit as I was too young, now I can’t move to another EU country (which I desired to do), without having to go through long, expensive, and tedious visa requirements.
Now the government still won’t budge on it.
It’s not the end of the world for me, but I do know that a lot of young people here are fucked off that the referendum and the government in general is trapping us here like the UK is an open air semi-prison.
Morons… why deny our youth these opportunities? Opportunities they had I might add.
It’s a perfect example of selfishness.
Remainer and leaver bias aside…what are the reasons for not accepting this?
It was rejected because it was a bad deal lmao.
Typical of the EU negotiating in bad faith and trying to get a one-sided deal past a pro-EU PM.
Fair play to Starmer.
Why do these freedom of movement advocates make out we live under martial law