Details that have emerged at the start of this week suggest Keir Starmer\u2019s government has been telling fibs about one of the most controversial aspects of its Brexit \u2018reset\u2019\u2014or, no less likely, perhaps that it is simply out of its depth.<\/p>\n
According to the Financial Times, the European Union has \u201cso far rejected<\/a>\u201d Britain\u2019s demand that a \u2018youth mobility scheme,\u2019 which has been criticised as the effective return of free movement<\/a>, would be subject to a cap on numbers. So much for the government\u2019s claim that the principle of a cap\u2014and, indeed, of a time limit on the scheme\u2014was \u201cagreed with the EU<\/a>\u201d last May.<\/p>\n Former Brexit negotiator David Frost said<\/a> on Monday it was \u201calways\u201d clear that this claim was false.<\/p>\n Brussels is instead offering Britain an \u201c\u2018emergency break\u2019-style mechanism,\u201d the FT reports, allowing both sides to suspend the allocation of youth visas if numbers became \u2018too high.\u2019<\/p>\n This has done absolutely nothing to allay concerns about Brexit\u2014which was largely a result of Britons wanting greater control of the border\u2014being betrayed.<\/p>\n Think tanker Fred de Fossard stressed<\/a> that such a \u2018break\u2019 \u201cis not a cap, nor is it an exit clause,\u201d describing it instead as \u201cmeaningless spin to cover the likelihood that the government will sign up to an uncapped scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n Frost himself added<\/a> that \u201can emergency brake would be worthless, in practice never usable.\u201d<\/p>\n