Rachel Reeves says Britain needs to strike an "ambitious” youth migration deal with the European Union. The Chancellor’s comments will likely anger Brexiteers, with an EU youth mobility scheme previously described as a “betrayal” of the 2016 referendum result by one critic.
The scheme would allow young people from the UK to work, study and live on the continent, and vice versa, for an extended period of time. Ms Reeves claimed it would be “good for the economy, good for growth and good for business” and could reduce the need for tax hikes in the upcoming Budget. The Government announced the UK and Brussels in May agreed to work further on a ‘youth experience scheme’, although details are yet to be finalised.
Speaking ahead of the Labour party conference this weekend, Ms Reeves told The Times: “We have agreed as a government that we want to have an ambitious youth experience scheme to allow young people in Britain to be able to go and work, to travel, to volunteer, to gain experience, to learn languages in European countries.
“And we want young people from those European countries to also be able to come to the UK and have the same opportunities that my generation had to travel and work and study in Europe.”
She also called for the Office for Budget Responsibility to include the improved EU trading relationship brokered by Labour in its “reset” with the bloc when it makes economic forecasts.
“They scored it when we left the European Union,” Ms Reeves said,
“They should score both the improved trade relationships that we’ve negotiated and this youth experience scheme.”
The UK has similar schemes already in place with 11 other countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, which saw 24,000 youth mobility visas issued in 2024.
The Times suggested 50,000 Europeans a year could be eligible to live in the UK as a result of the potential agreement with the EU.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has warned an EU youth mobility scheme would “effectively be a back door to free movement”.
His comments echo those made by the chair of the Conservative Democratic Organisation, David Campbell Bannerman.
The former MEP and ex-deputy leader of UKIP earlier this year said: “It is a Brexit betrayal and takes us back to EU free movement.”
The scheme is expected to allow 18 to 30-year-olds to stay for two years and given no right to remain.
