Keir Starmer offers main replace on EU visa shake-up for younger individuals
Keir Starmer said a youth mobility sceheme allowing young Brits and Europeans to live and work abroad will be capped and time limited – saying he wants young people to have the opportunity to travel and work in the EU
Keir Starmer gave an update during a visit to China(Image: PA)
A scheme to allow young Brits and Europeans to live and work abroad will be capped and time limited, Keir Starmer has insisted.
Plans for a youth mobility scheme are being hammered out, with Brussels pressing for no quotas on either side. But the Prime Minister suggested the UK would not accept an unlimited scheme.
Speaking to reporters on a trip to China, he said: “We are negotiating a scheme and I’m pleased about that because we want young people to have the opportunity to travel, to work and to be in EU countries if they are British citizens and the other way round.
READ MORE: China lifts sanctions on banned UK politicians as Starmer claims victoryREAD MORE: Dramatic fall in knife crime as Labour policing chief hails ‘real results’
“The principles are that there has got to be a cap and there has got to be a duration agreed. It will be a visa-led scheme. All of our schemes are similar to that. We are negotiating.”
It comes as the Government seeks closer ties with Europe, six years on from the UK’s formal departure from the EU on January 31 2020. Mr Starmer wants to turn the page on years of Brexit wars and chart a new path after Boris Johnson ’s botched deal heaped misery on businesses.
Both Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Deputy PM David Lammy have suggested the UK should seek a customs union with the EU, a view also shared by TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak. But the PM has rejected the call, which he said would mean trade deals with the US and India would need to be rippled up.
Instead, he has suggested he’d rather look at aligning more closely to the EU’s single market. Progress has been made to bridge the gap with the EU on food and farming, which could mean cheaper food on supermarket shelves by cutting costs for firms.
The PM added: “I think we should not just follow through on what we’ve already agreed. I think the relationship with the EU and every summit should be iterative. We should be seeking to go further.
“And I think there are other areas in the single market where we should look to see whether we can’t make more progress. That will depend on our discussions and what we think is in our national interest.
“But what I’m indicating here is – I do think we can go further. And actually think the place to look is the single market, rather than the Customs Union, which, because of the reasons I’ve said, doesn’t now serve our purpose very well.”
