Keir Starmer is planning on offering the EU a huge concession over their long-demanded youth mobility scheme, sparking joy from anti-Brexit campaigners.
It has been reported that Britain is set to give into Brussels’ demands for a free movement scheme for people aged 18-30, in a blow to border sovereignty.
Despite spending months promising the government is not considering such a proposal, this morning The Times says British negotiators have put forward plans that will allow thousands of youngsters from the continent to come to Britain for work and study.
The leaked proposals suggest they will be entitled to come to the UK for two years, with the possibility of a one-year extension.
However the Government is demanding certain mitigation measures in order to reduce pushback from Brexiteers.
They include an annual cap on numbers to avoid negative immigration headlines, as well as demanding that those who come pay an NHS surcharge.
Any European youngsters coming to Britain on the scheme would also be denied benefits.
Despite the attempts by Sir Keir to put forward a compromise, Remainers have voiced delight at the plan.
Liberal Democrat MP Mike Martin quipped that Labour is now backing Lib Dem policy, adding: “Good to see the government is listening.”
One of Labour’s most vocal anti-Brexit MPs, Stella Creasy, backed the report, posting on X: “EU youth mobility scheme offers chances to our young people to travel to skill up, and support for UK economy too.”
“Those who oppose should explain why ok to have with other countries but not our neighbours- join us in Labour4Europe backing these talks!”
Former Green Party leader Natalie Bennett also pointed out that her party had been demanding such a scheme since Brexit.
She added: “Could go some way to restoring rights and freedoms of young Britons.”
“Let’s keep the pressure up! Make politics what you do, not have done to you.”
Former Tory MP and Brexit backer Tom Hunt blasted: “The vast majority of British people want to live in a self-governing country. They don’t want to be moved back into the supranational bureaucracy of the EU.”
“We voted to leave the EU in 2016… here we are nine years later having debates about losing our sovereignty!”
The Times reports that even Britain’s modest proposals to mitigate the scheme, including restrictions on benefits and a cap on numbers, will be met with resistance by Brussels.
One official fumed: “It is offensive, to be frank, that Europeans are seen as a negative, as an influx of cheap foreign labour not as the positive of people-to-people contacts fostering better understanding.”
It’s rumoured the cap will stand at around 70,000.
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