The headline on the Daily Express website four days ago gives a flavour of the loathing felt by some Brexiteers for the nascent EU-UK Youth Mobility Scheme. But why such antagonism?
The background to this is that the Youth Mobility Scheme, at present being negotiated between the UK and the EU, would allow a specified number of young citizens aged between 18 and 30 from each (UK and EU) to spend time working, studying or travelling in the other. The time-period is under negotiation, and looks likely to be somewhere between 2 and 4 years. Numbers are also under negotiation and a ceiling of 50,000 has been quoted, though the talk is that Starmer still wants to negotiate that down; perhaps not by a great deal, but he needs to be seen to limit immigration whenever he can. And Youth Mobility is vulnerable in that respect. The pressure on him from the Brexit press is unremitting. The main pressure-point around immigration -small boats- presents him still in a role of near- helplessness. So Youth Mobility- one of the most positive possibilities of the recent rapprochement with the EU – is in danger of falling victim to the small boats crisis.
There is too much to lose here. More than ever, we need grass-roots contact between British and EU citizens to combat the growing nationalist mood in the UK; and we particularly need it among the young. Reform is making a successful pitch for support among young men, and there needs to be a counterbalancing experience that tells a positive story about Europe and Europeans. Of course contact with Europeans will not purify all our youth of the taint of nationalism – some of our young visitors will support the AfD and the RN – but the experience of international dialogue will nonetheless open many minds. No wonder the Express doesn’t like it.
So we can’t afford to lose on Youth Mobility. It needs to be decoupled from immigration in the public mind, presented in a different frame, associated with the positive connotations of European cities and friendly visitors. Its all about presentation. The Brexit press know that, and that’s why they are doing their best to kill it.
derby4europe 