{"id":53391,"date":"2025-04-27T00:10:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-27T00:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/53391\/"},"modified":"2025-04-27T00:10:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-27T00:10:17","slug":"post-brexit-youth-visa-scheme-with-eu-not-in-government-plans-minister-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/53391\/","title":{"rendered":"Post-Brexit youth visa scheme with EU \u2018not in government plans\u2019, minister says"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A post-Brexit youth visa scheme with the European Union is not in the government\u2019s plans, a Cabinet Office minister has said.<\/p>\n

Nick Thomas-Symonds<\/a> slapped down calls for such a move after more than 60 Labour backbenchers signed a letter calling for \u201ca new and bespoke youth visa scheme\u201d that would allow UK and European citizens under 30 to live and work between the two for up to two years.<\/p>\n

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Thomas-Symonds told MPs the government<\/a> is pursuing a new partnership with the EU which will make the UK \u201csafer, more secure and more prosperous\u201d.<\/p>\n

The EU has pushed for a youth mobility scheme ahead of a UK-EU summit planned for May 19, with prime minister Sir Keir Starmer<\/a> also meeting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Pressing the government on the issue of a youth visas scheme, Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokesperson Sarah Olney<\/a> said: \u201cWarm words about a reset in UK-EU relations is no longer enough. The summit taking place in London on 19 May is an opportunity for real action.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo can the minister take this opportunity\u2026 that the summit presents to commit to bringing in a UK-EU youth mobility scheme that will boost economic growth and enhance chances for young people in our country and across the EU?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Thomas-Symonds replied: \u201cOn the issue of a youth mobility scheme, it is not part of our plans. We have always said we listen to sensible EU proposals, but we will not go back to freedom of movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere I do agree with her, is about concrete proposals and concrete progress on the 19 May, and we are looking to secure that new partnership with the EU that will make our country safer, more secure and more prosperous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lib<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Lib Dem spokesperson Sarah Olney called for \u2018real action\u2019 on a youth mobility scheme (James Manning\/PA)<\/p>\n

In their letter, the MPs and peers said any youth mobility scheme should be in line with the UK\u2019s existing arrangements with countries such as Australia and Canada, with a time limit on visas and a cap on numbers.<\/p>\n

The group also called for deeper collaboration with the EU on defence, a deal on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures to reduce border checks on food products, both of which are in line with government policy, among other suggestions.<\/p>\n

Later in the session, shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart urged the government to \u201crule out dropping the right to annual quota negotiations on fishing\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Thomas-Symonds said he would not give \u201ca running commentary on negotiations\u201d, but added: \u201cWe will, of course, negotiate in the interests of our fishers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Burghart then asked: \u201cCan he assure the house that EU AI rules will not be applied to Northern Ireland?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Thomas-Symonds said: \u201cHe again comes with his questions on the reset, and what I want to just say is we\u2019ve had an atmosphere of collegiality, and I want to join in that atmosphere, because I want to agree with something that the leader of the Opposition said, when she said that the previous Conservative government left the EU without any plan for growth, and that is absolutely true.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that \u201cmajor retailers like M&S, Sainsbury\u2019s, Morrisons, Lidl [are] all supporting this government\u2019s approach in the reset to get an SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) agreement, he should be backing that\u201d.<\/p>\n

Downing Street said it would not get into a \u201crunning commentary\u201d about whether negotiations with the EU could include a youth mobility scheme in future.<\/p>\n

The prime minister\u2019s official spokesperson told reporters: \u201cDiscussions with the European Union are ongoing at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got clear manifesto commitments, we\u2019ve got clear red lines in these talks, but with those discussions ongoing, I am just not going to get into commentary on any specific details.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former top civil servant Philip Rycroft, who served as permanent secretary at the Department for Exiting the European Union, has meanwhile warned that ministers made a \u201ctactical mistake\u201d by ruling out a mobility scheme.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt meant that if we do a deal, and I hope we do on youth mobility, there will be accusations of a climbdown,\u201d he said at an evidence session of the UK Trade and Business Commission on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"Shadow<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Shadow minister Alex Burghart urged the government to \u2018rule out dropping the right to annual quota negotiations on fishing\u2019 (Ben Whitley\/PA)<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in Cabinet Office questions, Labour MP Matthew Patrick warned that \u201cdespite a record number of civil servants in a generation\u201d, his constituents have faced \u201cworse\u201d outcomes.<\/p>\n

The MP for Wirral West said: \u201cIt\u2019s clear to me that under the last government, our state failed the public. We had an agenda not rooted in the lives of everyday people, which meant that despite a record number of civil servants in a generation, outcomes for my constituents in Wirral West and across the country were worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo could (Pat McFadden) please set out how a smaller, more modern and more focused state can once again deliver world-class public services?\u201d<\/p>\n

Cabinet Office minister Mr McFadden replied: \u201cOver recent years, the public has seen the state get bigger. It\u2019s seen taxes go up, but they haven\u2019t always felt that they\u2019re getting the right outcome for those changes, and so to deliver our Plan for Change, we do need to reform the state to make it more efficient and more effective.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve started to deliver these reforms \u2013 stronger performance management, accelerating AI adoption, focus on the front line, reforming rules around recruitment and secondments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese plans will help empower our excellent Civil Services to work better to reduce bureaucracy and to focus on what really matters, which is better outcomes for the public.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-53391","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114407029027188220","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}