The EU is ready to offer concessions to get a youth mobility deal with the UK over the line in recognition that Sir Keir Starmer will need to sell any agreement to voters who want reduced immigration, i has learnt.
In a boost to Sir Keir Starmer’s Brexit ‘reset’, Brussels is willing to consider shortening the time it will ask for 18-30 year-old Europeans to be allowed to stay in the UK under a proposed youth migration deal.
i understands there is a feeling in Europe that this could give the Prime Minister a negotiating “win” that may help him sell any deal to voters who want lower immigration.
In a sign of how important the issue is for the government Starmer promised to Labour conference he would cut the numbers of people coming to the UK.
The government has said it has no plans to agree to migration for a deal with the EU, but EU negotiators believes this position could change.
Youth mobility deal is a key EU ask in Brexit reset negotiations if Starmer wants to unlock new agreements on security and trade, but the UK has been cold on the idea due to fears it will be perceived as opening the door to higher immigration.
A draft European Commission proposal, which is likely to become a concrete offer within two months after negotiations in Brussels, calls for 18 to 30 year-olds in the EU to be given the right to travel to the UK for four years, and vice versa.
The document also calls for British universities to stop charging Europeans with higher international student fees.
Both these demands would be difficult to accept for the Government, which is under pressure over high levels of immigration and university finances.
Starmer has repeatedly said he has no plans to agree to such a policy and stressed there would be no return to “free movement” under his premiership.
But i has now been told that the EU is prepared to give ground on the length of time adults under the age of 30 are allowed to remain in the UK, potentially cutting it from four to two or three years, if it will help make a deal more palatable to Starmer by allowing him to paint youth mobility as an exchange rather than migration scheme.
Senior Government insiders have also expressed confidence that the EU will back down on some of its other proposals, notably the demand that European students should be entitled to lower university fees and not have to pay the premium international fees – which the UK is unlikely to ever accept.
But the difficulty both sides will face in getting any deal over the line was highlighted by Yvette Cooper in an interview with i, as the Home Secretary insisted “net migration needs to come down”.
Starmer meanwhile told his party’s conference in Liverpool that he would cut immigration: “I have never thought we should be relaxed about some sectors importing labour when there are millions of young people, ambitious and highly talented, who are desperate to work and contribute to their community.
“Trust me, there are plenty of examples of apprenticeship starts going down at the very same time that visa applications for the same skills are going up and so we will get tough on this.”
The EU is nevertheless understood to be confident a deal can be achieved, with ministers potentially more likely to engage with the idea once net migration levels come down as a result of a visa crackdown launched by the Conservatives in their final months in power.
Cooper, the Home Secretary, fired a warning shot that striking such a deal could hinder her job of bringing down net migration.
Asked whether the UK could strike a youth mobility deal, she told i: “No, net migration needs to come down.
“Net migration trebled in the last four years, and underpinning that is overseas recruitment went up about seven fold.
“And so, we have been very clear net migration must come down.”
She added: “The European reset is really important.
“We want very close cooperation, but the UK voted to leave the EU, and that was also as part of the manifesto we were clear that there was no return to free movement or to the customs union or to the single market.
“We need to build a new relationship, including a better economic relationship, but also the security cooperation that is really important.
“We have been very clear [about] the priorities, net migration needs to come down.”
