Rachel Reeves is pushing for a more ambitious deal to unpick the harm Brexit did to the prospects of young people in the UK.
The chancellor has revealed she wants to have “an ambitious youth experience scheme” to allow mobility for under-30s in and out of the UK, a move which she claimed would reduce the need for tax rises in the forthcoming budget.
It would mean young people from the UK could go to live and work in the EU on temporary visas while young people from the EU would enjoy the same privilege the other direction.
Speaking ahead of the Labour conference, Ms Reeves told The Times she believes it could boost economic growth and is hoping that the Office for Budget Responsibility will score its impact before the Budget.
She said: “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.
“We also want the OBR to score that because when we left the European Union, the OBR said that our economy would be 4 per cent smaller as a result. As a result of that reset in May, we think the economy will be stronger.”
While the move would be seized on by the likes of Nigel Farage and Reform UK as a Brexit betrayal encouraging yet more immigration to the UK, a recent poll published by The Independent showed even Reform supporters back the scheme.
According to the YouGov findings in August, 76 per cent of those asked support the scheme, compared to only 13 per cent who are opposed.
This included 55 per cent of Reform UK (previously the Brexit Party) voters who want a permanent youth mobility scheme for young people in the UK and Europe to be put in place with just 34 per cent opposing.
The scheme was part of the discussions of Sir Keir Starmer’s Brexit reset earlier this year but details are still being thrashed out.
It would be based on existing schemes such as the ones with Australia, Canada and New Zealand where a limited number of visas are issued to 18 to 30-year-olds for up to two years to live and work in the other country as long as applicants have savings of at least £2,530.
Some have described it as the “au pair visa” because of the drop in the number of au pairs in the UK since leaving the EU.
Others have described it as the “restaurant and bar visa” because of the shortage of available workforce in the hospitality industry since Brexit.
Tom Brufatto, director of policy at the pro-EU Best for Britain, said: “A deal on youth mobility creates new opportunities for young UK and EU citizens alike, as first proposed by the UK Trade and Business Commission in 2021, and, as Best for Britain’s polling found earlier this year, is favoured in every constituency in Great Britain.”
