Youth mobility scheme for people aged between 18 and 30

The prime minister declined the European Commission’s surprise proposal of a youth mobility scheme for people aged between 18 and 30. | MDB Digital

Richie PriorPalma13/05/2024 09:41
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The 23rd of June 2016 was a day when the older generation in the UK totally changed the landscape for the younger generation. It was the day that Brexit became a reality and unfortunately, just over half of the population believed the spin of vote leave campaign more than vote remain. One of the driving forces for vote leave was immigration, and by taking away the freedom of movement they said the UK would get their borders back. Well that went well didn’t it!

On the one hand, all it has done is to drive the people to take much riskier ways of getting to the UK. And on the other hand, it has denied the younger generation in the UK, the freedom to travel and work abroad.

I can take this back even further, when the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition took away the opportunity for parents to take their children out of school during term time for a holiday. A subject I’ve talked about before. Seeing new countries, experiencing new cultures, hearing new languages and tasting different cuisines should be part of their education in my opinion. And it should be in the hands of the parents and teachers to decide if a child could take some time away, not a Government Minister.
Why is the UK Government so obsessed with denying people the freedom to travel? It seems they and those who voted for Brexit forgot they were young once and decided it is best that they deny the same opportunities to younger people.

In the last few weeks I’ve highlighted the slowness at passport controls now and that employing people from the UK is virtually impossible here in Mallorca. So imagine my surprise and anger when I heard this. Rishi Sunak has rejected an EU offer to strike a post-Brexit deal to allow young Britons to live, study or work in the bloc for up to four years.

The prime minister declined the European Commission’s surprise proposal of a youth mobility scheme for people aged between 18 and 30. The current UK Government are on borrowed time, but even the Labour Party who are tipped to get into power have rejected this. Saying, “Labour has no plans for a youth mobility scheme. We have already suggested some tangible ways that we would look to improve the relationship and deliver for British businesses and consumers.”

In fact the only ones who support this are the Liberal Democrats, their leader Ed Davey says “Expanding our existing youth mobility visas to cover European countries on a reciprocal basis would be a win-win.

“It would be a much-needed boost to our economy, especially hospitality and tourism; it would offer great new opportunities to young British people to work abroad; and it would be a crucial step towards fixing our broken relationship with Europe.” Unfortunately, the Lib/Dems have as much chance of winning the election as Tottenham Hotspur do of winning a trophy.

Anand Menon, a professor of European politics and foreign affairs at King’s College London and director of UK in a Changing Europe, said: “Clearly there is a debate to be had about the costs and the benefits of a youth mobility scheme, but I find it utterly depressing that both of the major political parties, one of which will form a government after the next election, do not know the difference between free movement and a limited youth mobility scheme which involves visas.”

It is true that a youth mobility scheme would not be a return to freedom of movement and would, if agreed, require a YMS visa, evidence of sufficient funds to sustain a living and health insurance. There is speculation that the UK will try and do individual deals with certain countries rather than the whole Bloc. If that is the case, then I sincerely hope that Spain is top of that list.