Keir Starmer\u2019s lead negotiator on Europe has enthused about how excited he is by the prospect of an EU youth mobility scheme, as he signalled a broader government shift towards embracing closer ties with the bloc.<\/p>\n
Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister in charge of negotiating Britain\u2019s relationship with the EU, said on Wednesday he was looking forward to signing a deal<\/a> to let young people travel and work more freely across Europe.<\/p>\n His tone contrasted with that struck just a few months ago, when the government would not even say whether it was willing to enter negotiations over such a scheme.<\/p>\n He made the comments during a speech in which he promised to agree<\/a> a new agricultural export deal by the start of 2027, as ministers begin to talk more openly about their desire to move closer to Brussels.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very excited that the youth experience [scheme] gives us great opportunities for Brits to be able to go overseas to experience different cultures. Its going to be fantastic,\u201d Thomas-Symonds said.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say to parliamentary colleagues, it\u2019s going to be all about MPs of all parties actually showcasing the opportunities of young British people.\u201d<\/p>\n Thomas-Symonds has led negotiations over Starmer\u2019s reset in EU relations, which culminated earlier this year in an agreement to start talks over both an agricultural deal and a youth mobility scheme.<\/p>\n He said on Wednesday he wanted to have the new export agreement in place by the start of 2027, giving the government 18 months to complete the negotiations.<\/p>\n British officials will be pushing for exemptions to EU rules such as restrictions on developing genetically-modified crops<\/a>, while France in particular is likely to ask the government to drop its pre-election pledge<\/a> to ban imports of foie gras.<\/p>\n Thomas-Symonds admitted the UK would be asking for carve-outs from European rules, but said that Britain would seek to \u201cdynamically align\u201d with the EU, meaning its regulations will change in line with European ones in the future.<\/p>\n The principle of dynamic alignment was for many years a bete noire for Brexit<\/a> supporters, who said would mean ceding control of British regulations to Brussels. Thomas-Symonds sought to make a virtue of it however, saying: \u201cWe are choosing to align with common high standards because it is in our national economic interest and will save businesses up and down the country.\u201d<\/p>\n His warm words about a youth mobility scheme were a departure from recent ministerial reluctance to discuss such a possibility for fear of reopening the debate over free movement from the EU.<\/p>\n