Sir Keir Starmer is considering opening discussions with the European Union regarding visa-free travel for under-30s, with Emmanuel Macron telling the Prime Minister that “Brexit has failed”.
An updated youth visa scheme would allow 18 to 30-year-olds in the UK to live, work and study abroad, and the EU has maintained that without “free movement for young people” returning, relations between the two is unlikely to reset.
Whilst Yvette Cooper has said previously that the scheme is not on the table, behind the scenes, both sides have indicated that they would be willing to compromise.
A senior UK government source said: “There aren’t any specific proposals on the table around youth mobility. Obviously, we will look at anything that the European Union does put forward.”
Starmer will appear at an EU summit dinner today in a bid to try and reset relations with the bloc
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Starmer will appear at an EU summit dinner today in a bid to try and reset relations with the bloc. He is the first UK prime minister to attend an EU summit dinner since Brexit in 2020 – with his appearance being deemed as evidence that Brexit “didn’t work”.
Senior diplomats in France have said that Starmer is the “demandeur,” who is trying to reset relations with the bloc due to a failed Brexit coupled with instability thanks to the return of Donald Trump.
Macron is expected to tell Starmer that Brexit “didn’t work”. A senior diplomat said: “We thought it wouldn’t work because the UK is European, geographically and economically. Brexit was a project for a stable and prosperous world, but in a complicated world, obviously the UK will be closer to Europe.”
Sources in Brussels told The Telegraph that the bloc is prepared to water down their original demands – which included a new migration deal – to help make the deal more appealing to Westminster.
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Emmanuel Macron is set to tell the PM that Brexit has failed
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The scheme could be rebranded as a “youth experience scheme” to distance it from any association with freedom of movement.
Nick Thomas Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister leading negotiations with the EU, said that a proposal would not be accepted if it resulted in an increase in net migration.
“It depends on precisely what you mean by youth mobility. There is the university sector and Erasmus+, but obviously that has financial implications,” he told a Lords committee.
“There is an idea about something wider, but the Government are pledged across the course of the Parliament to bring net migration down and that is an objective that we are determined to achieve.
Starmer will present EU leaders with his proposals for a new defence and security pact
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Nick Thomas Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister leading negotiations with the EU, said that a proposal would not be accepted if it resulted in an increase in net migration
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“Youth mobility…is a matter for the EU how it wishes to put that forward and seeks to negotiate it, but we will have to see. There is plenty of speculation in the papers about various things, but we will have to see where they get to.”
The Prime Minister will meet with Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary-general today, before attending a meeting with the leaders of the 27 EU member states at an informal gathering of the European Council.
As part of his plans to reset relations with the bloc, Starmer will present EU leaders with his proposals for a new defence and security pact.
Starmer will urge EU countries to pledge more support to Ukraine and also to “shoulder more of the burden” to keep Europe safe from Russian aggression.