My Lords, youth mobility schemes are a topical subject in this Parliament at the moment. A Private Member’s Bill on this very subject is making its way through the other place, which yesterday held a debate on youth mobility schemes with the EU. In this Chamber, we had a Question on it from the noble Lord, Lord Balfe, last week and a Question today from the noble Lord, Lord Liddle. I am aware that a number of noble Lords have already asked supplementaries and I look forward to the opportunity for them to develop some of those points more fully in this debate. In particular, I look forward to the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Moraes.
I believe that the need for closer ties with our European neighbours is more pressing now than it has been for some time. There are many reasons for that, but, with the Ukrainian war and increasing geopolitical instability likely to exacerbate existing migration issues, the need for international co-operation is all the more important, especially with those countries that are quite literally our neighbours. I hope this debate will provide an opportunity to think how we might maximise the opportunities for our young people to experience study, work, leisure, sport, music and so on in the wider world beyond our shores.
However, building mutual trust and respect with our European allies, both those in the EU and those that are not members, cannot be achieved simply in political fora or via policy decisions only. Indeed, sometimes they can be a source of much wrangling and entrenched resentments, which both led to and were a result of Brexit. That decision has been made, and I hope this debate is not about that. If we want to build trust and mutual understanding, we need a whole host of positive engagements and relationships at all levels in science and research, education, culture and sport, and, critically, opportunities for citizens to live and work together, both here and across mainland Europe.
Quite apart from the fact reintroducing youth mobility and cultural exchanges would be expedient for our foreign policy, there is the sheer demand for the restoration of these opportunities for our young people and the broader public. Polling in August 2024 found that 58% of the population think a youth mobility scheme is a good idea. There is a real demand for something like this. There has been a great loss to our young people just at the very time when they should be gaining new experiences and broadening their worldviews, making friends from people of other nations and cultures, with opportunities for travel, education and study abroad with our European partners. Those opportunities have gradually diminished and, where arrangements exist, they are usually more complicated and even more competitive.
There are broadly two strands of argument that I intend to cover when it comes to making the case for a new youth mobility scheme with European countries, although I also hope to touch on some of the challenges facing our creative industries, especially touring musicians. I have to confess that I feel rather daunted by the expertise of so many in your Lordships’ House on this topic. I come to this debate not as an expert but as someone who has greatly benefited from rich experiences in other cultures over extended periods and as someone who cares deeply about the opportunities for our young people to travel, learn languages and be exposed to the world and the cultural exchange of ideas and for our creative industries, one of the great success stories of our nation, to thrive. I look to listen and learn about the various challenges and opportunities that exist when it comes to negotiating youth mobility, and to better understand the position of His Majesty’s Government.
My Lords, I am honoured to make my maiden speech today in this debate. It is somewhat daunting. The doorkeeper steadied me just now and said, “Every one of the noble Lords in the Chamber today has been in the same place”. I am not sure if that helped. I did notice also that there are noble Lords and noble Baronesses who have had connections with the European Union and who have been MEPs.
I want to start my remarks in this maiden speech with some comments on the approach of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans to these mobility schemes. Many noble Lords and Baronesses in this Chamber will have had experience of those reciprocal mobility schemes in their work. In my experience over 20 years, I helped many young constituents with these reciprocal schemes and how to navigate them. Over the years I saw UK students, some from disadvantaged backgrounds who would not otherwise have afforded to access those schemes to study, benefit from Erasmus and other mobility opportunities. Those schemes were not perfect. For example, there should have been more UK take-up between 1987 and when we left in 2020—that is clear. But, very objectively, I saw a lasting benefit for those students in the UK, and I also saw measurable economic benefit and benefit to our academic institutions in the UK.
On this vexed point that the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans raised about free movement, I would love to hear other opinions on it in this debate, but my understanding was always that the legal base of these reciprocal mobility schemes was never anything to do with free movement because they did not involve settlement and that was the key legal element that would make such schemes “free movement”. These schemes are not free movement; they are reciprocal schemes that generate advantages in all aspects of our lives. I will limit my comments on the debate to that and will now proceed with my maiden speech.
My Lords, it is an honour and a particular pleasure for me to follow the maiden speech of my noble friend Lord Moraes. We share something, inasmuch as we spent our early years in the fine city of Dundee. I notice that the noble Earl, Lord Dundee, is here today. I am not sure that he can say he spent his early years in the city of Dundee, but there we are.
My title, and that of my noble friend Lord Moraes, reflect that city’s heritage. For those noble Lords who do not know, although it is not visible, his title is Baron Moraes, of Hawkhill in the City of Dundee. Hawkhill is one of the longest-established thoroughfares in the city and contains much of his alma mater, the University of Dundee. It also contains a lot of hostelries in which he and I—at different times and at different ages, because we were a decade apart in our early years in Dundee—found much pleasure and often had some raucous nights out.
As my noble friend said, after he left university he came to London. It is important to note that he is qualified to practise in Scots and English law, which is not something that all that many people accomplish. He has achieved a wide experience over the years. I think it is appropriate that, having come here to act as a humble researcher to two MPs—now the noble Lords, Lord Boateng and Lord Reid of Cardowan—he now enters your Lordships’ House on an equal basis with them. It is very well merited.
My noble friend outlined his work, particularly as a national officer with the Trades Union Congress. This is nothing to do with my noble friend, but he mentioned an anecdote about the noble Lord, Lord Kirkhope, effectively being on two sides of the fence. It reminds me of the time when I was a full-time trade union official. One of my colleagues submitted a claim for pay and conditions to a particular company. Soon after, he joined that company in the department where he had to answer his own claim—which he did not do in full. It was similar to the situation with the noble Lord, Lord Kirkhope.
My Lords, it is a pleasure, as always, to follow the noble Lord, Lord Watson, and it is a particular pleasure to have been able to listen to the rather endearing maiden speech from the noble Lord, Lord Moraes. I am sure he will bring a lot to this House from his experience.
I also thank the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans for securing and opening this debate. I listened to his speech with a good deal of interest, and he set out the positions very clearly. I was waiting, I confess, for the moment at which he would show how his positions derived from the doctrine of the Church of England or Christianity more broadly, but sadly, that point never came. Nevertheless, I take them as so derived, and he certainly made a very good political case for the changes in rules in our relationship to the EU that he set out. He referred to the reset, and I want to begin by talking a little about the so-called reset, because that is the context in which we are looking at this idea of youth mobility.
I confess that I am not completely convinced that we need a reset with the EU. The relationship seems to be working perfectly well for the moment, but I accept that there are many who think differently, and that is why the Government have taken us on the path that we are now on. I think it would be better if the Government could set out their objectives for that reset a bit more clearly. I refer the Minister to the comprehensive document that we set out in February 2020 outlining our approach to the free trade association negotiations. It is a pity, to put it no more strongly, that in a negotiation of this nature we have no real guidance on what the Government are seeking to achieve and why, so I guess we have to define it for ourselves.
The way I look at the reset and what may be on the table falls into two categories. The first category is a set of proposals that would be marginal but genuine improvements to the relationship as it now stands. None of them are game-changers, but they are things such as improving the mutual recognition of qualifications procedures, something to do with the arrangements on touring artists—which have been referred to and I am sure will be again—improvements to the conformity assessments, pragmatic relaxation of border processes, e-gates and things such as that. I would put at least some kind of youth mobility agreements into this category, and I will come back to that and explain why. That is one category.
My Lords, it is a pleasure to have heard the maiden speech by the noble Lord, Lord Moraes, which was absolutely charming. He will be a welcome addition to this House.
If we do not give young people the opportunities that we tore from them when we left the EU, then we will not only deny them all the wonderful broadening of mind and experiences that came from the EU mobility scheme; we will deskill them and reduce our own future, because if we limit young people, we limit ourselves. I congratulate the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans on securing this vital debate, and I could not agree more on the harm that is being done to the creative industries, tourism and all that area, and therefore to our country, for which the creative industries are an economic driver.
If we could restore to our young people at least some of the opportunities that they had when we were members of the EU, we would give them a whole range of advantages that will remain with them all their lives. Travel not only broadens the mind but gives young people independence and confidence. When you have to navigate a new country on your own, you are forced to step up, to solve problems and become self-reliant. You have to overcome challenges in an unfamiliar environment, and that builds resilience and confidence. Living and working in another country exposes you to different cultures, enables you to understand different perspectives and makes you more open-minded and reasonable—we could sure do with more reasonableness. You learn to be adaptable when you have to work and communicate with people from diverse backgrounds. For some young people, who have limited horizons because of the circumstances of their birth, this is a route to change. Getting away from an environment that is damaging or limiting is vital to life chances.
In terms of future prospects, working abroad improves soft skills, such as communication, adaptability and problem-solving. It can give you a competitive edge in the job market when you return. It expands your network: you get to meet people from all over. and you will create all sorts of valuable personal and professional connections. These networks can open doors to future job opportunities and collaboration.
My Lords, I welcome the noble Lord, Lord Moraes, to this House and look forward to his future contributions. I am grateful to the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans for securing this debate with its focus on young people and the opportunities of mobility and exchange.
Young people had the most to lose but the least voice in the UK’s decision to leave the EU. The opportunities afforded to previous generations to explore and experience life, study and work in countries on our shared continent, and to enjoy the well-evidenced benefits of international and intercultural exchange—of which more later—are no longer available. For them, it will be more difficult and more expensive to build international friendships, networks and partnerships, and we will never know what cultural, social and economic innovations might have been born from collaborations that can no longer take place.
There are growing calls on the Government to grasp the opportunity to put this right. The British Chambers of Commerce has described the absence of arrangements for mobility for young people in the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement as a “serious omission”, affecting
“everything from school trips to summer jobs in both labour markets”.
ABTA has asked government to prioritise a youth mobility arrangement, arguing that it would rejuvenate opportunities for young people in the UK and foster growth for our essential businesses. YouGov polling from last year found that 68% of the British public would support a bilateral deal to allow 18-30 year-olds to live, work and study in countries across the entirety of Europe. Over half of those people who voted leave said that they would support such an agreement.
Nowhere is the mood music louder than among young people themselves. Last year, the European Economic and Social Committee of the EU published a report highlighting the challenges that young people on both sides of the channel are facing as a result of restricted mobility, and their aspirations for a future relationship between the UK and the EU. Based on extensive consultation among youth organisations and individuals, the report includes direct quotes from young people which express their deep sense of loss and a perception that the current relationship is broken, fractured and closed.
My Lords, first, I thank the right reverend Prelate for bringing this matter before us today. My contribution will be to strongly support a youth mobility scheme between the United Kingdom and European countries. But, before putting forward my arguments for this, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Moraes, on his maiden speech—and thank him, actually, for mentioning me.
The noble Lord and I go back quite a long way, if I might use that phrase. We first encountered each other, I think, when I was the UK Immigration Minister—never an easy job at the best of times, as we all know—and the noble Lord was the head of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants. We had some exchanges at that time and I am pleased to say that, despite our slightly different backgrounds and responsibilities, we had a positive relationship. Later, when we were both MEPs, the noble Lord, Lord Moraes, was, as he said, the chair of the LIBE Committee—the justice committee —of the European Parliament, with me as the lead Conservative. I can state categorically that, by working together, especially on security issues, we were able to demonstrate the importance of the UK in protecting not only our own citizens but all Europeans and the wider world. It was a most productive relationship. Sadly, of course, Brexit removed those activities, but I am absolutely delighted that the noble Lord, Lord Moraes, is now here with us.
In examining the Government’s stated wish to restore or reset our relationship with the EU, the matter we are debating today is of great importance, not only for our young people but for the economic, cultural and diplomatic ties that bind us to our closest neighbours.
Since the UK left the EU, young people on both sides of the channel have faced a stark reality: opportunities that were once taken for granted have disappeared. The ability to study, work and gain international experience in each other’s countries has been significantly diminished. This is not merely an inconvenience: it is a loss of potential, a restriction of opportunity and a barrier to future prosperity.
My Lords, I begin by congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Moraes, on his maiden speech. Our paths crossed a little over 10 years ago when he, as a Member of the European Parliament, and I, as the chair of a committee of this House responsible for justice and home affairs, were doing our best to mitigate the somewhat impetuous effort of the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, to remove the UK from all justice and home affairs legislation. I am glad to say that we were successful then, although we were thwarted by the Brexit process. I welcome the noble Lord to this House, where I am sure he will make a major contribution.
The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans is also to be congratulated and thanked for securing this timely debate on the potential for a UK-EU mobility partnership as part of the Government’s reset of our post-Brexit relationship with the EU, and for his most helpful and illuminating introduction to the debate. This debate is all the more necessary as it provides an opportunity to clear away some of the quantities of disinformation that have swirled around the subject since the idea surfaced in Brussels early last summer, well ahead of the July election here.
To clear up one of those bits of disinformation, the idea has not yet been put to the UK by the EU in any formal sense. It was an idea that the Commission raised with the EU member states, and to which they got a reasonably positive response, but it was not put to us—except by journalists—because there are no current negotiations going on between the UK and the EU, so there was no need to respond to it, positively or negatively. The then Labour Opposition chose to react to it—quite unnecessarily, I have to say—in a way that was interpreted more negatively than was justified.
The second piece of disinformation is that the concept of mobility partnerships for particular age groups and professions is not understood as being as widespread as it is around the world. In no case does it amount to full free movement, and it is often numerically capped. So far as the EU is concerned, the Commissioner who will now be handling the matter in the new Commission, Maroš Šefčovič, made clear last week that any UK-EU scheme would not—I repeat “not”—amount to free movement.
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This Motion was deliberately worded to say “European countries” rather than “the EU” as I hope to avoid us becoming mired in old debates. However, the question of bilateral agreements with the EU versus individual approaches to EU member states is likely to be an integral part of this debate. In spite of that, I hope we can be open-minded as we think about how best to renew the rich landscape of cultural, educational and civic ties that we have shared with mainland Europe in the past, whether that be through rejoining the Erasmus scheme or by agreeing a new youth mobility scheme altogether.
Another point I would like to stress is that sometimes people conflate youth mobility schemes with freedom of movement. This has cropped up repeatedly, including in this House recently during Oral Questions. Will the Minister confirm that the Government understand that youth mobility schemes are not the same thing as freedom of movement? Indeed, the proposal for a new youth mobility scheme from the European Commission last year was both age limited and time limited. I appreciate that that scheme was rejected by the previous Government, and indeed the current one, but even had it been accepted, it would not have been a return to free movement.
I note that in these parliamentary exchanges His Majesty’s Government frequently point to the Turing scheme as the answer, which offers funding for UK students to go abroad on placements. The focus within this scheme of ensuring that disadvantaged students are able to access this funding is admirable, and I totally support it—indeed, it is appropriate. But still this does not make it a substitute for the Erasmus programme, which was much broader in scope and scale. For example, the Erasmus+ scheme includes specific partnerships and funding streams to promote sport and physical activity. The Turing scheme is also, critically, not an exchange programme.
His Majesty’s Government have committed to a reset in relations with the EU. The noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Newnham, led a debate on EU relations last October. The government spokesperson for that debate, the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, said:
“This is about turning the page, reinvigorating alliances and forging new partnerships with our European friends, rather than reopening the divisions of the past”.—[Official Report, 10/10/24; col. 2210.]
In that spirit, His Majesty’s Government recently successfully negotiated the UK rejoining the Horizon programme post Brexit. There are positive examples here of how this can be done. The Erasmus scheme does not consist only of EU member states. Norway, for example, is a country which has developed extremely close and collaborative relationships with the EU despite not holding member status. If that is not going to work for us, let us at least propose something new, given that we have turned down the most recent proposal.
Like all Members of your Lordships’ House, I am acutely aware that the public purse is under strain and that one of the arguments against Erasmus was the cost, due to more students coming to the UK than UK students going to Europe. I for one am not sure that that is an argument against the Erasmus scheme, but rather the result of our embarrassingly poor foreign language learning and teaching here in the UK. If anything, it is an argument to encourage more of our young people to go abroad to study at European universities and improve their foreign language skills. Speaking a second or even a third language is a vital skill that is only becoming more and more important in our globalised world, yet the number of students and pupils taking language courses continues to decline.
I would like to pick up on a few points from the excellent debate on EU relations I mentioned. First, the facilitation of overseas school trips has been complicated by regulations on the UK-EU border post Brexit. Last week, the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Malvern, committed to:
“ensuring school visits and other opportunities for exchange”
and eradicating
“some of the challenges that have arisen”.—[Official Report, 20/1/25; col. 1479.]
Can the Minister update the House on whether there has been any progress on that issue? What specific takes are being considered or taken?
Secondly, there are challenges facing the creative sector, particularly musicians. This was raised this morning by the noble Baroness, Lady Nicholson of Winterbourne, in one of the Oral Questions. This is an issue that first came to my attention through the particular challenges facing choirs that have tried to arrange overseas tours. I understand that DCMS is working closely with representatives from the industry to try and find solutions to the challenges facing the sector after leaving the EU, and this is welcome news. Will His Majesty’s Government, in the short term, do their utmost to secure an EU-UK visa waiver agreement for performing artists and their staff? This is widely supported within the creative industries, and there is precedent for these kinds of agreements with the EU.
In the longer term, it is vital that some music performers are able to stay for periods of more than 90 days. It is particularly important for orchestras, choirs and the theatre sector, which generally have longer touring periods. Can the Minister tell us what steps His Majesty’s Government are taking towards negotiating such an agreement with the EU?
Finally, the Government have said that they do not want to commit to a specific programme regarding youth mobility in the UK at the moment. I appreciate that the Minister may not be able to say much today in the light of future negotiating strategies, and that there are a number of obstacles we are seeking to resolve with the EU—for example, concerning Northern Ireland. However, as they enter the first EU-UK summit, I hope they will bear in mind how much the UK stands to gain from renegotiating a youth mobility scheme, which could be a real win-win and be of mutual benefit, in particular for our young people. Can the Minister confirm when we might expect an update on this issue?
I will conclude my opening remarks by reiterating that close ties with our neighbours are essential to UK interests in the current global climate. These have to be underpinned by a mutual understanding of and respect for other nations, cultures, languages and customs if they are going to be sustainable and resilient. There are so many difficulties facing our young people today. The opportunity to travel, live and work abroad has enriched the lives of so many in the past, as well as proving essential to their future success. I hope we will ensure that we are not depriving Britain’s young people of these experiences and those opportunities to thrive.
I thank your Lordships for the kindness and support I have received since entering the House. I thank my noble friends Lord Kennedy of Southwark and Lady Smith of Basildon for introducing me. I was only introduced on 16 January, but already I have received so much help and kindness from the remarkable staff in every part of this House.
I feel the honour of being in this House very keenly, not least because of my own background. I was a first-generation immigrant to this country. I was born in Aden, but my family had to leave during the Aden Emergency. My family were then split—my mother took us back to her country of origin, India, while my father gained entry to the UK as an overseas student, where he trained as a teacher and became a key worker in Scotland. We were eventually reunited. My parents were part of that generation which, some noble Lords and Baronesses will understand, was a generation of Commonwealth immigrants of the 1960s and 1970s who came to this country to give their children opportunity—and that certainly happened to me.
I then grew up in Scotland, first in Dundee and then Stirling, and this of course explains my accent, which has been somewhat commented on. As a new member—I am sure other new noble Lords and Baronesses will have had this experience—I am open to all sorts of advice. The first piece of advice I got on the first day that I came was from a noble Lord, who will remain unnamed, who said, “That’s a very nice soft Scottish accent”. Then he paused and added, “But nobody’s going to hear it if you don’t speak up”. So I immediately raised my volume and I have kept to that volume, hopefully, for noble Lords and Baronesses.
I came to London to further my law studies but could only do so because I had the opportunity to work for John Reid, then an MP, and later Paul Boateng, then an MP—now my noble friends Lord Reid of Cardowan and Lord Boateng. I thank them both for the start they gave me. I then stayed in the capital, working at the Trades Union Congress—the noble Lord, Lord Monks, allowed me to work at Congress House and I thank him for that—and, later, as director of JCWI, an independent legal protection NGO in the area of immigration, nationality and asylum law. In some ways, I was returning to the issues that had affected my family, but your Lordships may well recall that, during the period of the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s, the UK experienced the most significant refugee arrivals since the war—from the former Yugoslavia, the Kurds, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. Working on these refugee issues individually, and on the policy, was a very formative experience. I did, of course, encounter many colleagues during that JCWI period and I am very honoured that they have come to listen to my maiden speech.
In 1999, I had the honour of being elected to the European Parliament for London. I shared this honour for a period with the noble Lord, Lord Balfe, who was also on my London list. I am really gratified that a number of colleagues who also served in the European Parliament are present in the Chamber. I chaired the Parliament’s justice and home affairs committee, and that legislative committee became enormous. It covered security, migration and the rule of law, but, because the Lisbon treaty gave it the competences and powers, it ended up reaching into data and privacy. As a result, I was able to chair the Facebook inquiry and work on data adequacy agreements, and I started work on the EU AI White Paper before we left the EU in 2020.
That brings me to a second reason why I am so happy and honoured to join your Lordships’ House. Over that whole period, I regularly gave evidence to committees of your Lordships’ House. This peaked in 2018—some noble Lords and Baronesses will recognise this—at a time when we were having heated discussions on how we were going to resolve issues post Brexit. How were we going to continue to share security databases such as SIS II or remain involved in Europol? Were we going to achieve data adequacy with the EU and were we going to adopt the European arrest warrant? Some of these issues are still not resolved and are still being considered by the House.
My point is that I gave evidence to Lords committees, whether it was the EU Home Affairs Sub-Committee or the European Union Scrutiny Committee, as it was, in front of noble Lords who actually understood the issues—I am not making any comparisons with the evidence I gave to the Home Affairs Select Committee in the other House, which is a fine committee—and in some cases had actually put the issues together. I will give one example: the noble Lord, Lord Kirkhope, negotiated the passenger name record security agreements in the EU, and then he was the noble Lord asking me questions about it—which was kind of defeating, but there we go. It does give a sense of how this House can often be incisive and in the moment but can also, in my view, take a longer view of some of the most sensitive issues Parliament has to deal with, in an age when everyone wants instant solutions but when it is sometimes important to think through the most sensitive issues if we possibly can.
In conclusion, it has been an honour to make my first speech in your Lordships’ House in this debate and on this subject, and I very much look forward to making contributions in the future.
My noble friend Lord Moraes has gained many awards for the work he has carried out—most notably, of course, the OBE. He mentioned having been warmly greeted by many Scottish Members of both Houses in the months since he joined us. It is appropriate to say that not many of them realised his Scottish roots until they heard his dulcet tones. It brings to mind the phrase, “Ye can tak’ the laddie oot of Scotland, but ye cannae tak’ Scotland oot of the laddie”. That is very much the case as far as my noble friend Lord Moraes is concerned. It is a pleasure to have him here. I am sure that noble Lords will join me in looking forward to the many powerful contributions he will make to debates and to the wider work of your Lordships.
I commend the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans on securing this important debate. As he said in his comprehensive opening speech, this is a topical subject that I sense is beginning to gain some traction. Last year, as we know, the European Commission announced a proposal to open negotiations with the UK on a youth mobility scheme for all EU citizens, which would give 18 to 30 year-olds the opportunity to work or study in the UK for up to four years and offer the equivalent entitlement to young people from the UK. The Commission stated that the proposal would not be a return to free movement because it would be time limited, but it would enable studying, training, working and travelling. However, that proposal did not get very far. Although the previous Government rejected it, it is only fair to say that the EU was insistent that it must apply to all EU member states and not just be on an individual basis. That was the rock on which it foundered at that time.
Young people who become involved in exchanges with EU countries would return home at the end of them. That is the purpose of these exchanges: to gain experience of living and working in another country but then, at the end of it, to return home and bring what experience they gain into their working life in this country. That is a straightforward premise and it is disingenuous, to say the least, to portray it as somehow amounting to freedom of movement, as some do. Those who do so are, I believe, fully aware that that is not the case, yet they continue with what is, in effect, a distortion to fan the flames for those who are naive enough to believe that there is some nefarious attempt to reintroduce freedom of movement by the backdoor.
Let us be clear: the EU has not approached the UK with a formal proposal regarding a reciprocal youth mobility scheme. Rather, it should be our Government making the approach, because to do so would benefit thousands of young people in the age group characterised as Gen Z. It was rather dispiriting to hear my noble friend say earlier today, during Oral Questions, that the Government have no plans to seek a youth mobility scheme. No doubt she is duty bound to repeat that at the end of this debate, which is regrettable. To maintain such a cautious stance is to dance to the tune of those who want to feed the fears of those willing to buy fake news about some form of weakening of our current position vis-à-vis the European Union.
As noble Lords may know, the Prime Minister is meeting EU leaders next week and No. 10 has briefed that it is an opportunity to discuss “enhanced strategic cooperation” with the EU. I suggest that a youth mobility scheme should be part of that and should be less complicated to agree than other areas, such as dismantling trade barriers.
Maroš Šefčovič, the European Union’s new trade chief responsible for post-Brexit negotiations, said recently that a pan-European customs area
“is something we could consider”
as part of a reset in discussions between the UK and the EU. That might enable the UK to join the pan-Euro-Mediterranean convention. That created quite a bit of media stushie—as we say in Scotland—but such an idea is, I believe, non-threatening to the outcome of the 2016 referendum. That is underscored by the fact that the noble Lord, Lord Frost, who is with us today, has effectively given it the green light. I do not think that it is in any way a threat.
That may help to open up possibilities for an EU-UK youth mobility scheme but, even it does not, it is not as though youth mobility schemes are in any way unusual for this country. We of course had them when we were part of the EU, as my noble friend Lord Moraes mentioned, and today the UK has a youth mobility visa open to people from 12 different countries, which involves a quota system for each. In 2023, the last year for which figures are available, about 23,000 people came to the UK under these agreements.
These youth mobility schemes provide valuable cultural exchange opportunities for Generation Z to experience life in another country for up to two or three years and then return home. Those participating in schemes are able to work if they wish to do so, which provides valuable opportunities that help to prepare them for working life. The schemes involve countries some distance from these shores; there should be an equivalent for countries nearer to home, including countries in the European Union.
For the benefit of journalists, some of whom seem to be easily alarmed, these schemes are not designed, nor intended, to be a route for economic growth or to address specific labour shortages. They are about giving young people the best early chances in their life and working life. Recent polling for Best for Britain showed that 59% of UK citizens thought that the Government should prioritise negotiating a reciprocal relationship with the EU for Gen Z, with only 15% disagreeing with that proposal.
Although the EU Commission proposal was for any new scheme to involve all member states, as I said earlier, this need not be a deal breaker. EU member states can reach bilateral agreements on labour mobility with non-EU countries, and it is surely much easier and swifter to strike a deal with one country than with the whole EU. The key will be the limits to any such agreement, but that would be the subject of negotiations. Surely, with good will on both sides, a suitable arrangement could be achieved.
The Government should review its position on this, develop a policy that stops finding reasons for not doing it and search, together with EU member states, for reasons for doing it. I urge my noble friend to convey this view to fellow Ministers, potentially as a first step towards the change that our young people need and deserve.
The other category of things that might come up in the reset is more troubling from my point of view, and ought to be more troubling from the country’s point of view as well. Those are things that we are led to believe might be on the table, although we are not quite sure. They are issues such as free movement-like arrangements, participation in asylum or migration arrangements of the EU, application of EU law, alignment with EU rules or regulations in any way, ECJ monitoring in an SPS agreement or accepting EU rules on defence procurement. Those are the sorts of things that start to change the FTA-type relationship that we have into a different kind of relationship, one that involves a degree of subordination, acceptance of lawmaking outside the country, that we had hoped we had got away from.
Some of these things may be on the table for the Government; we do not know. I hope that if—and it is probably when—they come back with something from these negotiations, they will be honest about whether they have accepted changes to the free trade nature of the relationship and lawmaking outside the country through alignment with EU law. That is a fundamental point.
As I have said, youth mobility arrangements can, but do not necessarily, come into that category. They are a prudential issue rather than a problem of principle, at least in certain forms. One has to say that because, after all, the UK has youth mobility agreements with a number of other countries around the world already, so there can be no objection of principle to another such agreement. It all depends on the terms and the degree of control. If we are ever asked to judge whether a youth mobility agreement with the EU is sensible, I would look at four criteria.
First, what are the numbers? They are crucial. We all know that there is a huge debate about the number of migrants coming into the country. I will not get into that, but in that context some numbers in a youth mobility scheme would not be material and some definitely would. All our existing agreements have numbers below a cap of 10,000 per year, with the exception of Australia. That is the order of magnitude that we would have to think about in an EU arrangement. The EU’s proposal for such an agreement includes no cap at all; it is simply a criteria-based arrangement under which, in principle, many tens of millions of people would probably be allowed to come to this country. Maybe they would not—I am confident they would not—but it takes only a small proportion to cause a difficulty. Numbers and a cap are really important.
The second criterion is fairness and balance. One has to laugh slightly at the nature of the EU’s proposal to us for such a scheme, which is so wildly unbalanced and tilted in its direction that it cannot think we would give it any serious consideration. Can it really be fair that everybody who meets the criteria in the entire European Union is allowed to come to the UK but that UK citizens are allowed to go to only one of the 27 EU countries? It makes no sense for the EU to say both “We can negotiate this only at EU level, because that is the way we do things” and “You can come to only one of our 27 countries, because that is also the way we do things”. We cannot have that. It makes no sense. If it is a UK-EU agreement, it would have to be done on that basis.
Thirdly, there can be no importing of EU concepts, by which I mean non-discrimination between UK and EU citizens. It is a big ask in the EU’s recommendation that we should accept that EU visitors under the scheme should not have to pay the NHS surcharge, for example, and that students should not have to pay the same fees as other foreign students. That too is not acceptable in such an arrangement. There should be and is a distinction, which we should maintain, between UK citizens and non-UK citizens. I see no case for assimilating EU citizens into that category.
Fourthly and finally, we are clear that this is an EU ask, and the Government have been quite clear that it is not something that they are looking to negotiate particularly, which is good. If we end up agreeing it anyway, what will we get in exchange for making concessions to the EU? How will it come up in the negotiations? There are many things that we ought to want from the European Union in any reordered arrangement, but unfortunately the most important of those, the Northern Ireland arrangements, are already off limits for the time being—more is the pity.
However, there are acceptable trades for this. The most obvious area is mobility; one can imagine a high-equilibrium arrangement, with some sort of youth mobility agreement in return for some sort of relaxation of the ESTA-type arrangements, better use of eGates, more pragmatic arrangements for service providers, including tourists, artists and so on. One can see we could find an equilibrium that could make sense and be of benefit for both sides. Whether that kind of thing is on the table, or whether the Government plan to concede more than that, we just do not know; we will have to wait and see.
To conclude, I set out these four tests for youth mobility. To be honest, I find it hard, in practice, to imagine that it is possible at the moment to negotiate a youth mobility scheme that would match all four of those things, but you never know. It is wise for the Government to have said they have no plans for such a scheme and it is probably best to stick to that, unless a really good offer is made to us.
Living in another country broadens your perspective on life and your future goals. It challenges your world view and may help you reassess what you want in life. In fact, that is what happened to me: I was hitching round Europe, headed for drama school, when I suddenly realised that I did not want to go to drama school—I wanted to go to art school. I went to art school at Oxford Polytechnic, which is where I led my first political campaign. That is how I ended up, 20 years later, going into politics, leading a campaign and introducing same-sex marriage. You see? It works.
You may discover new passions or career paths that you had not considered before. Dealing with different systems, languages and ways of life teaches you to think on your feet; you learn how to adapt to uncertainty, and that really stands you in good stead for the vagaries of your life ahead. Of course, it is also fun.
I am sure we all agree that those are good things. Indeed, as has been mentioned, the Government have bilateral agreements for youth exchanges with a number of countries outside the EU, so they obviously agree. But when it comes to the EU, somehow this Labour Government lose their bravery and are found wanting. It is all very well talking about a reset, but you have to be willing to enter the arena and deal.
In the other place on 15 January, my colleague, James MacCleary, the Lib Dem MP for Lewes, introduced the Youth Mobility Scheme (EU Countries) Bill to
“require the Secretary of State to enter into negotiations with countries which are members of the European Union”—
or are not—
“for the purpose of extending the Youth Mobility Scheme to applicants from”
the EU
“on a reciprocal basis”.
He pointed out the immense damage caused by the Brexit deal and the irony of young people now being able to live and work in Japan for two years but not hop across the channel to France. The Government are shouting their mantra about growth right now, but when growth comes from dealing with the EU, somehow it is dismissed, despite the UK facing acute labour shortages in several areas, including the hospitality trade. Young people visiting are just who we need for that industry.
So far, the Government’s reset with the EU is just talk. They seem to be afraid that if they get closer to the EU, that will be a threat to their electability, boosting Conservative and Reform votes, and be seen as a return to freedom of movement, which it is not. They run from that, but it is not that. We need to show the EU that we are worth allowing a closer and carefully designed youth mobility scheme. We could make sure that those taking part could come here as a clearly defined category on a tightly controlled time limit, but it would also be a signal that we have rejoined the world of reality and send out a message that we are open for business, for real.
I listened to the Chancellor’s “growth, growth, growth” mantra, but everything she said is undermined by these failures to move on the EU mobility scheme, to recognise the market that is Europe on our doorstep, and, indeed, as said by Ed Davey in PMQs yesterday, to enter a customs union, because red tape is killing growth.
Additionally, yesterday, my Lib Dem colleague in the other place, Sarah Olney, had a Westminster Hall debate titled:
“That this House has considered the potential merits of a youth mobility scheme between the EU and the UK”.
With the constant refrain from Labour now that they want a reset, she pointed out that we need to
“forge a new partnership with our European neighbours, one built on co-operation, not confrontation, and moving towards a new comprehensive agreement. A crucial step in that process is rebuilding confidence by agreeing partnerships and associations”—
whether it is Erasmus or whatever—
“to help restore prosperity and opportunities for British people”.—[Official Report, Commons, 29/1/25; col. 134WH.]
We also need to consider that President Trump is now in the White House. The Government have apparently woken up to the importance of building a closer defence and security agreement with the EU, but the EU, unsurprisingly, wants something in return and is insisting that those agreements run side by side with other arrangements, including a youth mobility scheme. The Guardian, on 25 January, reported on the MRP survey of almost 15,000 people by YouGov for the Best for Britain think tank, which showed that more people in every single constituency in England, Scotland and Wales back closer arrangements with the EU rather than more transatlantic trade with Washington.
Of course a youth mobility scheme will involve reciprocal migration obligations, but this is about an investment for the future, growth and well-being, and it will be carefully designed. I understand that the Government are scared of a political backlash, but what is the point of a 400-seat majority at the beginning phase of a Parliament, where brave governance will see people feeling better at the end of five years? Otherwise, I do not think they believe in themselves. Our world is descending into chaos and need right now, so please, Labour, use your power to stop this. The whole point of being in government is power, so please use it.
There will need to be administration and cost, but that is what investment is, and investing in our young people is the absolute best investment we can make. It is not a return to free movement. This is a scheme that would not replicate the original youth mobility scheme or—sadly, in my view—restore the full benefits that UK citizens had pre-Brexit, but it would help young people for a short period, unlike the open-ended rights they previously had. It is likely that, unlike the old system, a youth mobility scheme could or would require visas, fees and possible job restrictions, depending on our labour market. Although it would not be as flexible as the scheme we had when we had EU membership, it would be a step towards easing travel and work barriers. We could negotiate the age limits, the length of stay and the job restrictions if they are needed.
The Chancellor’s 45-minute speech was a heart-rending plea for growth, growth, growth. She admitted that we need to go further and faster in the pursuit of economic growth, and Liberal Democrats agree with her, but the route to a reset can start with this tiny, open-hearted step into a youth EU mobility scheme. One small step for young people; one giant step towards common sense, growth, security and power. The insanity of refusal and denial must stop.
The EESC report makes a series of recommendations, echoing those from the European Affairs Committee of your Lordships’ House and of the Parliamentary Partnership Assembly, of which I am a member. There is “universal and unanimous support” for the full reintegration of the UK into Erasmus+ and shared disappointment in the replacement Turing Scheme, with its limited offer and funding and no inward mobility—a scheme assessed as inadequate in the Government’s own analysis.
It is worth noting, as we have already heard, that Erasmus+ encompasses far more than funding for university students to undertake international placements. It is a vehicle for youth voluntary exchanges and a vital financial lifeline for thousands of young activist networks, organisations and youth councils. It has a proud 38-year record of delivering for young people and organisations across Europe, with a particular emphasis on marginalised groups. Post-Brexit, without access to Erasmus+, dozens of the UK’s youth charities have gone under, including the British Youth Council, which entered insolvency in April 2024, unable to meet ongoing financial challenges without the support that had come from Erasmus+.
This House has often discussed the loss of Erasmus+, but less attention has been paid to the impact of our leaving Creative Europe, the EU’s flagship programme to support the cultural, creative and audio-visual sectors. Between 2014 and 2019, Creative Europe delivered £100 million in funding to UK projects. The UK was the third most successful country in the number of funded projects over that period, with a particular impact on creative and cultural projects in the nations and regions. The Welsh Senedd’s 2024 Culture Shock report calls for government to prioritise association with Creative Europe at the forthcoming review of the TCA.
Rejoining Erasmus+ and Creative Europe would allow young people to apply for joint funding for projects that enable exchange at home and abroad. This would offset at least some of the damage of the current arrangement, helping today’s young people build and nurture the intercultural networks that underpin their development and careers and that inspire innovative new ideas. It would be a positive step on the journey towards a comprehensive and reciprocal scheme of the kind we are debating today.
The idea of a scheme that allows young people to live, work and study in the EU and the UK for a limited period is not a radically new concept. Indeed, according to the Library’s research, the UK already has such agreements in place with 13 countries around the world. Clearly, we believe in the personal, professional and social benefits that accrue from international and intercultural communication, and the increased understanding between nations that grows from this kind of exchange. However, the overwhelming majority of the exchange programmes already in place can be accessed only with a significant and costly long-haul flight, which likely puts them out of reach for many young people. Surely the Minister would agree that enabling exchange between the EU and the UK makes sense, not just because our histories are interwoven but because the relative ease and lower cost of access makes the benefits of exchange available to a wider and more diverse range of young people.
As we have heard, the introduction of a reciprocal arrangement would have significant benefits for the creative and cultural sector, which has been so severely impacted by an agreement that the noble Lord, Lord Frost, himself said, in March 2022, was “too purist” on youth mobility and touring artists, was
“making life difficult on both sides”,
and should be reviewed. The 90 in 180 days agreement, to which this and the last Government so often refer, does not address a fundamental issue, in that it does not permit artists to undertake work that is paid.
The hardest hit by all this are the younger, early-career artists, working on low profit margins and with limited administrative support. The bureaucracy involved in securing visas and permits for sets, costumes, instruments and merchandise is not only time-consuming but the cost is often prohibitive. Artists can no longer take up the last-minute engagements that have so often fast-tracked their careers. In some cases, visa restrictions disproportionately impact younger artists, because the waivers exempt only established artists or require minimum income thresholds, which of course younger artists cannot meet. A youth mobility scheme would not solve all the challenges for post-Brexit touring, but it could significantly improve the situation for early-career artists, who are more likely to be travelling alone or in splitter vans, to be carrying their own costumes and instruments, and to be transporting merchandise using the “merchandise in baggage” rules.
One of the most striking issues highlighted in the EESC report is the absence of institutional structures for youth engagement between the UK and the EU and in the groups that oversee and advise on the implementation of the TCA. I hope that this omission will be addressed at the review point next year.
Listening to young people and structuring their voices into the processes by which decisions are reached is more important now than it has ever been. Generational divides have always existed, but some of the factors that differentiate young people today from the decision-making generation are particularly profound. The climate and housing crises may well be unparalleled sources of intergenerational tension, as is the burden of future debt. Brains that have been shaped, quite literally, by the printing press technology of Johannes Gutenberg have to work hard to imagine how a generation whose brains are shaped by the technology of Gates—the “click to read more” technology—thinks, experiences and communicates. Therefore, it is all the more important to involve young people in policy development and to structure their voices into discussions and decisions about the longer term.
I welcome this Government’s commitment to reset our relationship with the EU. I hope that this includes fresh thinking, informed by the voices of young people, on intercultural and international exchange mechanisms, including Erasmus+ and Creative Europe, and an agreement that opens up the rich experience of living, working and studying across our shared continent.
A youth mobility agreement would not be a return to free movement. These schemes can be tailored to national interests and limited in terms of numbers or duration. But it would harness the transformative potential of youth connections in unlocking a closer bilateral relationship between the EU and the UK based on good will and intercultural understanding.
This is not just about restoring opportunities for individuals. A systematic review published last year determined that intercultural competence is one of the main requirements for success in today’s globalised world, and its absence a crucial factor in failure. The review found that these skills of cultural awareness, intercultural sensitivity, language proficiency, empathy and flexibility are best developed through studying and staying in different cultural environments and participating in cultural programmes across geographic borders.
This is the real win of exchange and mobility with our nearest neighbour and our key trading partner: not just a future generation enriched by the experience of studying, living and working in different environments and among different peoples, but a future generation better equipped to help ensure the future success and prosperity of the UK.
We have long argued that expanding youth mobility schemes to more countries—particularly those geographically and economically close to the UK—would be beneficial. Sectors with fluid labour markets, such as hospitality, have relied on the participation of young workers for years.
Of course, youth mobility schemes are not new, as other noble Lords have mentioned. The UK already has agreements with countries such as Australia, Canada and Japan, allowing young people to live and work in those nations for a defined period. These agreements are reciprocal, well regulated and mutually beneficial. There is absolutely no logical reason why a similar scheme cannot be agreed with Europe, especially with the EU itself. Of course, the specifics will need to be negotiated to ensure that we get a deal that is in our interests, but that is very much achievable.
The economic case is compelling. This is an initiative welcomed across business communities and across all sectors, and widely seen by labour organisations and the third sector as a serious omission from our current relationships. European interns have often been invaluable in helping British small and medium-sized companies expand into new European markets. The long-standing practice among UK lawyers—I speak as a lawyer myself— of spending time in an EU member state during training or after qualification has been crucial for professional development and career success. However, this pathway is no longer accessible to those lawyers employed by firms without EU offices, as they cannot take advantage of the intra-corporate transfer provisions contained within the TCA.
Similarly, for example, the horticulture sector has for many years sent students and young people to the Netherlands in the summer, while taking European students here—a system that has been fundamental to how they do business.
Polling evidence also shows very strong public support for a youth mobility scheme. In August 2024, research by More in Common found that 58% of people think that such a scheme is a good idea, compared with only 10% who oppose it. Breaking that down, 71% of those who voted Labour in the July general election supported the scheme, as well as a majority—56%—of Conservative voters. I should not mention it, but even among Reform UK voters, support stood at 44%, with only 27% against. Those numbers demonstrate a broad consensus in favour of restoring structured opportunities for young people.
A structured mobility scheme with the EU would enhance the UK’s soft power. Our influence in Europe and beyond is built not only on economic and security relationships—important as they are—but on cultural and personal connections. When young people live and work abroad, they form lasting relationships, break down barriers and build bridges—both literally and figuratively, I think. These connections contribute to Britain’s standing in the world, making us a more attractive and engaged partner on the international stage.
Some are arguing that concerns about immigration should deter us from pursuing such a scheme. One or two speakers have done that. As I have said, I speak as a former Immigration Minister and there is a clear misunderstanding of the proposals. A youth mobility agreement is not unrestricted migration; it is a temporary reciprocal arrangement that benefits both sides. Those coming into the UK must have financial means to support themselves and it does not offer a path to citizenship. It is not—I repeat, not—a return to free movement.
We know that the EU has expressed its openness to having an agreement. To a large extent, the ball is now in the UK’s court. If we fail to engage constructively, we risk further diminishing our ties with our closest allies and depriving future generations of the opportunities that all their predecessors enjoyed.
The benefits of youth mobility are clear, but we must place this in the wider context of our relationship with Europe. This is not just good for young people; it is good for the UK and good for Europe. The EU has already put an offer on the table and our Government should now engage, negotiate and reach a fair and beneficial agreement, without further delay. By doing so, we can secure meaningful gains across multiple sectors, foster a closer and more co-operative relationship with our European neighbours and, in doing so, enhance our collective security and economic prosperity.
In conclusion, this is an opportunity that we really must seize. I urge the Government to act in the best interests of our young people and our country.
Having got rid of those two main pieces of disinformation, it surely makes sense for the Government to consider carefully the pros and cons of such a mobility partnership. I hope the Minister will say that they will now do that, so that we are in a position to engage constructively if and when the idea is raised with us in the reset negotiations.
So far as your Lordships’ European Affairs Committee is concerned, the idea was studied in the process of preparing the report we made to the Government and the House in April 2023. I was serving as a member of the committee at the time, and we concluded that the idea made a lot of sense and would be in the UK’s interest. When the then Government reacted to our conclusion, they did not agree, but they were a different Government. Our report, which was subscribed to by a committee of all parties and none, is surely therefore worth looking at again now.
Since the time of that report by your Lordships’ European Affairs Committee, I would suggest that the case for giving positive consideration to a UK-EU mobility partnership has become much more compelling. Following our departure from the EU almost five years ago to the day, the opportunities for those in this age bracket to be likely to be covered by any mobility partnership have shrunk dramatically on both sides of the channel. Brexit has deprived them of many of the openings they had when we were a member of the EU.
School visits have virtually collapsed; access to the ever more successful Erasmus scheme, to which other non-EU countries belong, has lapsed; knowledge of other European languages in this country has continued to slide; the activities of performing artists of all kinds have been hit hard; and young professionals in a whole range of specialisations have ceased to have easy access to jobs on both sides of the channel. That is a pretty sorry litany, and I could go on. Moreover, the sign of interest in a mobility partnership with us, which we have heard from Brussels, means that there is a good chance that such an approach would fulfil one crucial characteristic for success in negotiation: mutual benefit to both sides.
The time has surely come to stop sucking our teeth, to stop repeating constantly the mantra “We have no plans for a mobility partnership”, and to give the whole idea a thorough and open-minded consideration. After all, we might discover some help there for the Government’s top priority of stimulating growth.
Finally, on a more general point, it does not make sense and is not in our national interest for us to debate every idea for improving the UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU as if it was a rerun of the damagingly divisive debates we had between 2016 and 2019 over the principle of our EU membership. The debate we are having today is not part of that and should not be treated as if it was.