{"id":94613,"date":"2025-05-12T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T06:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/94613\/"},"modified":"2025-05-12T06:00:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T06:00:13","slug":"youth-mobility-scheme-with-eu-will-help-to-right-the-brexit-wrongs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/94613\/","title":{"rendered":"Youth mobility scheme with EU will help to right the Brexit wrongs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Things like the Erasmus scheme helped many of us who would not otherwise have been able to experience what we did. And besides, by limiting that choice, it has only served to make things, in those further-away nations, more expensive for those with less.<\/p>\n

Here we are then with the new scheme. It\u2019s not entirely clear why the government is being so coy about it. Even though it is believed to be close to a done deal, do they fear that if they\u2019d shown any positive thaw towards the EU ahead of the council elections they\u2019d lose more votes to Reform<\/a>? That didn\u2019t exactly play out well.<\/p>\n

Neither does it stack up. Recent YouGov polling on this scheme<\/a> showed over two-thirds more people across the country were in favour than against. Even in Clacton<\/a>, in Nigel Farage\u2019s constituency, more people were in favour than against.<\/p>\n

And as polling Big Issue has carried out shows<\/a>, poverty is a key and driving concern for voters. Anger that the government has not used its majority to get stuck into poverty yet is driving people from Labour. Reform are clearly beneficiaries. So long as Labour doesn\u2019t get to grips with that, they allow space for Reform to explain what Reform see as the causes of poverty<\/a> \u2013 and allows them then to explain how they\u2019d fix it, when Labour can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s possible that Labour are keeping their powder dry ahead of a major conference next week. On 19 May there is a summit with UK and EU leaders. They\u2019re going to look at security mostly, we are told, and potentially something around fishing. It may be that the government want to present the EU-UK youth mobility scheme as a win to show a positive outcome from the talks. If that is so, it feels like a minor victory.<\/p>\n

Labour have a whopping majority. We all understand that money is tight, that things sometimes take time
and that politics has a lot of wheels within wheels.<\/p>\n

If they don\u2019t start shifting those wheels and moving through the gears, it\u2019s going to be a long parliament for them, and us. Though, if you\u2019re under 30, there is something to look towards.<\/p>\n

Paul McNamee is editor of the Big Issue.<\/strong>\u00a0Read\u00a0more of his columns\u00a0here<\/a>. Follow him on\u00a0X<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this?\u00a0Get in touch and tell us more<\/a>.\u00a0Big Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income.\u00a0To support our work buy a copy of the magazine<\/a>\u00a0or get the app from the\u00a0App Store<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Google Play<\/a>.<\/p>\n