A senior economist has warned that the proposed youth mobility scheme between the UK and EU could be "terrifying" and potentially open the floodgates to migrants from across Europe.
This comes as the Government is facing mounting backlash over its proposed youth mobility scheme with the European Union, amid fears that it represents a major U-turn on immigration and a betrayal of Brexit principles.
The stark warning comes as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer signals his strongest intention yet to implement such an arrangement ahead of Monday's summit with the EU.
Catherine McBride told GB News: "Is it pretty clear that young people are going to get this access to the United Kingdom.
Catherine McBride said the influx is "terrifying"
GB NEWS
"For three years, young people being defined as 18 to 30, I believe. I hear it will be defined as 40 now. I think young people should stop at 25, really.
"That would be quite a broad swathe of people. It's also it depends on if there's caps on it, which is one of the issues many people are worried about, because obviously there are 27 EU countries and if they all have a cap for 25,000 or 30,000, that could mean a lot of people.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
"Also, there's talk that they'll be able to come in and go to our universities and pay the same fees as UK, students, which is terrifying, really. Terrifying because of the loss of income to our universities."
The UK currently offers similar youth mobility schemes with 12 non-EU countries, including Japan, South Korea and Uruguay, allowing young people to study or work in the UK for up to two years.
These existing schemes have annual quotas, ranging from 100 visas for Andorra to 42,000 for Australia.
McBride emphasised the imbalance in the proposed scheme, noting "there will be a lot more EU students coming to the UK than there will be UK students going to the EU" due to the UK's superior university rankings globally.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has described the possible scheme as "free movement through the back door", writing on X: "We're not against youth mobility schemes. We're against uncapped migration schemes."
Reform UK has taken a similar position, with deputy leader Richard Tice stating earlier this week that such a scheme would be "the thin end" to EU free movement.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan, however, has expressed support, saying a youth mobility scheme would "put rocket boosters up businesses in London" in sectors facing staff shortages.
The Prime Minister has firmly denied accusations that the scheme represents a return to freedom of movement. He insisted that Labour has a "red line in our manifesto about freedom of movement" and that "youth mobility is not freedom of movement".
Keir Starmer is looking for a new EU deal PAAn agreement in principle is expected to be announced at Monday's summit at London's Lancaster House, though not the final deal.
The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg reports that the EU has been pushing for stays as long as four years, while the UK is not contemplating more than one or two.
Starmer described the upcoming talks as a "really significant moment" that would help create greater wealth for British people.
He added that "a strengthened partnership" with the EU would "be good for our jobs, good for our bills and good for our borders".
