The Prime Minister claims there will be a “cap” on youth mobility migrant numbers but can’t say what it is
Keir Starmer has agreed the UK will join a youth experience scheme (Image: Getty)
Keir Starmer was left floundering when he was challenged to reveal how many EU citizens will gain the right to live and work in the UK under a new youth mobility scheme. European Union leaders forced Sir Keir to sign up to a policy allowing young people from across Europe to live and work in Britain as part of the Prime Minister’s “reset” deal which includes plans to improve defence co-operation.
Sir Keir has claimed that he won a concession allowing the numbers coming in to the UK to be limited. However he was unable to tell MPs what that limit was, when questioned in the Commons by Conservative MP Esther McVey – who warned the scheme could push up the number of young people out of a job.
She said: “With youth unemployment higher in Europe, in countries like France, Spain Portugal and Sweden, I can see why the EU pushed for a youth mobility scheme, to help get their youth unemployment figures down.
“So can the Prime Minister tell the House what impact assessment he has done of his youth scheme, on youth unemployment for young Brits, particularly white working class boys who suffer the most?
“And can he tell the House today the cap he has put on numbers of people coming into the UK? If he can’t, this is a bitter betrayal of British youth.”
Sir Keir failed to give a number when he answered her. The Prime Minister said: “This provides young people in the UK the opportunity to work, to study and to travel in Europe.
“It is going to be a capped scheme of limited duration and with visas, something everybody said we couldn’t negotiate. We have negotiated.”
A youth mobility scheme is likely to mean people aged 30 and under from the EU and UK are allowed to live and work in each other’s countries for three or four years.
However Sir Keir’s “reset” deal provided no details of how the scheme will work, except to reveal it has been re-named a “youth experience scheme”.
Speaking in the Commons, the Prime Minister defended his controversial EU reset deal.
But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the deals with the US, India and European Union were “own goals” and said the Government had failed to improve terms agreed by the Tories.
Responding to Sir Keir Starmer’s statement to the House of Commons, Mrs Badenoch said: “When Labour negotiates, Britain loses. He talks about a hattrick of deals. They are own goals.
“In 2020 the Conservatives concluded the trade and cooperation agreement, the largest and most comprehensive free trade agreement in the world. We agreed to come back in five years and improve terms.
“This renegotiation should have been an opportunity to improve terms for our country. The terms are improved for the EU, and the Prime Minister can dress it up as much as he wants, but he has failed. It is bad for bills, it is bad for jobs, and it is bad for borders. This is not a deal made for Britain; this is a deal made for Labour’s PR to show them on the world stage. Well, it is a stitch-up for our country, for their short-term headlines.”
Mrs Badenoch referred to the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO) which had described the deal as a “surrender and a giveaway”, the Tory leader told MPs.
She said: “Why is the Prime Minister selling our fishermen down the river? Is it because they don’t vote Labour?”
The new deal with the European Union strengthens the UK’s borders, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
In his statement to the Commons, the Prime Minister said: “It also strengthens our borders, because, again, the previous deal left a huge gap, weakened our ability to work together to tackle illegal migration, the ultimate cross-border challenge.
“This partnership closes that gap, including joint work on returns, preventing Channel crossings, and working upstream in key source and transit countries, co-operating along the whole migration route to strengthen our hand in the fight against the vile smuggling gangs.
“It boosts our co-operation on law enforcement, combating terrorism and serious organised crime, with closer operational work with agencies like Europol and better sharing of intelligence and data, including, for the first time, facial imaging.”
