Brexiteers have sounded alarm bells about Sir Keir Starmer buckling to the EU’s demands after GB News analysis found Brussels’s initial Youth Mobility proposal opens the door to hundreds of thousands of migrants.
Brussels’s initial proposal, penned in April 2024, stated that those aged 18 to 30 should not need a purpose to enter the UK or adhere to a strict quota.
Despite the UK already having quota-bound arrangements with 13 other countries - including Australia and New Zealand - data shared with GB News indicates that roughly three-in-five of all EU nationals registering to enter the workforce between 2012 and 2024 were under 30 years old.
The figure peaked at 65 per cent in 2012/13, with a Covid-era slump down to 48 per cent in 2020/21.
However, a post-lockdown bounce to 63 per cent in 2023/24 ultimately restored the proportion of EU arrivals who sit within the Youth Mobility age range to the UK’s pre-Brexit figures.
The data also echoes statistics compiled by the Migration Observatory, showing 1,363,000 (65 per cent) of all EU-born adults who arrived in Britain between 2004 and 2016 were aged 18 to 30.
Sir Keir Starmer with Ursula von der LeyenPA
The European Commission put forward its proposal last April
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
EU migration led to a surge in Britain’s overall migration figures following the bloc’s expansion in 2004, outstripping non-EU migration at the time of the Brexit vote by around 521,000 to just 237,000.
In the wake of the UK’s departure from the EU, in part exacerbated by Covid, migration from the continent had comparatively dried up.
The figure has not only reversed - with non-EU net migration now standing at 845,000 - but collapsed as EU net migration dropped to negative 95,000 in the year ending June 2024.
Brussels is planning to put migration back on the table ahead of May 19's UK-EU summit, with the bloc's negotiators also giving "special attention" to access to British fishing waters and cross-Channel energy cooperation.
And Starmer this week refused to guarantee the UK would impose a cap, opening the door to an influx of arrivals if the EU gets its way.
Relaxing migration flows between the EU and UK also risks torpedoing Starmer’s plans to fix Britain’s “broken” borders.
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Total long-term net migration, immigration and emigration in the UK, year ending (YE) June 2012 to YE June 2024ONSThe Prime Minister is “promising” to curb net migration through measures introduced in his new White Paper.
In a bid to stem the tide of migrants arriving on British shores, Starmer is introducing stricter English language rules, increasing the timeframe from five to 10 years for migrants to obtain settled status and enforcing a care home visa ban.
Speaking from Downing Street, the Prime Minister appeared to appropriate the language used by leading members of the 2016 Vote Leave campaign.
He said: “Make no mistake, this plan means migration will fall. That is a promise. But I want to be very clear on this.
“If we do need to take further steps, if we do need to do more to release pressure on housing and our public services then mark my words, we will.”
Starmer, who stopped short of committing to a net migration cap, added: “We will finally honour what take back control meant.”
Sir Keir Starmer delivering his immigration speechPA
Net migration among EU nationals fell after the UK left the Brussels bloc
ONS
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper revealed that the measures would result in at least 100,000 visas being slashed.
While stopping short of proposing an indefinite migration arrangement, the EU’s initial suggestion appears to enable an unlimited number of arrivals under the pretence they only stay for four years and meet the conditions of residency.
Brussels suggested valid travel documentation, sickness insurance, and proof of sufficient means of subsistence would all constitute general conditions for admission.
Research shared with GB News by Facts4EU also highlights how previous migration arrangements between Brussels and London have led to a one-way surge.
Data highlighting the use of the Erasmus+ scheme showed how just 9,993 UK students used the utilised the cross-continent university programme in the pre-Covid year of 2019. In contrast, more than 143,000 EU students relocated to the UK.
However, concerns about the UK’s negotiating position with the EU have grown amid reports of major concessions on fishing rights and dynamic alignment.
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Shadow Home Secretary Chris PhilpPAShadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told GB News: “This looks like it could become Free Movement by the back door.
“And, worse, some European countries give citizenship to illegal immigrants just three years after they are granted asylum, and they would then be eligible to flood into the UK. This could become a serious loophole in the UK’s immigration system.”
He added: “Keir Starmer is the world’s worst negotiator, as the Chagos fiasco shows. The Government were, until recently, saying that there would be no Youth Mobility scheme at all - we can’t trust a word they say on this, or indeed anything else.”
Reform UK MP Lee Anderson also said: “There’s no doubt — letting in hundreds of thousands more EU migrants, or any others, would directly defy the wishes of the British people. It was a close vote, but we chose Brexit — and won — despite the Tories’ failure to deliver.
“Their economic destruction through net zero madness and relentless tax hikes is no excuse for betraying Brexit — and the British public.
“This Labour Government is selling out Brexit by leaning back on the EU, squandering trade opportunities, and allowing free movement through the back door.”
Lee Anderson
GETTY
The European Commission's proposal is clear about not being subject to a quota
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The Centre for Migration Control’s research director Rob Bates also warned Starmer risks walking headfirst into accepting free movement in all but name.
He told the People's Channel: “The last thing this country needs to be doing is plunging headfirst into a free movement arrangement with the European Union.
“A Youth Mobility scheme would be the thin end of the wedge and open the door to a significant increase in the number of young European workers coming to Britain.
“The inevitable outcomes of such a disastrous scheme would be further pressures on rental markets and restricting job opportunities for young Brits.
“The British public rejected this type of arrangement in the 2016 EU referendum, yet this Government seems to be hell-bent on taking our country back into the bosom of Brussels.”
Following this week's migration crackdown, Starmer has been accused of flip-flopping on the issue of EU migration, given his previous support for free movement.
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An image from UK Border control at GatwickGETTYAfter campaigning for a second referendum on EU membership, Starmer made bringing back freedom of movement a central pillar of his 2020 Labour leadership campaign.
He said: “We welcome migrants, we don’t scapegoat them. Low wages, poor housing, poor public services, are not the fault of people who come here: they’re a political failure. So we have to make the case for the benefits of migration, for the benefits of free movement."
The Prime Minister later ruled out a return to freedom of movement and initially rejected proposals for a Youth Mobility scheme.
However, Europe Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds last week opened the door to some form of migration agreement between the UK and 27 EU member states.
He told The Financial Times: “We will consider sensible EU proposals in this space.”
Thomas-Symonds added that the Government’s red lines of “a smart, controlled youth mobility scheme would of course have benefits for our young people” must be respected.
Ursula von der Leyen is the president of the EU CommissionGETTY
Pro-Brexit campaigners celebrate Brexit dayGETTYThe Prime Minister’s official spokesman echoed Thomas-Symonds’s pivot, saying the Government is “always open to listening to sensible proposals from the EU within the framework of bring down net migration".
“I’m not going to get into a running commentary,” the spokesman added. “These talks are ongoing.”
Despite setting out the UK’s position, Starmer's negotiating strategy has been brought into question after the Prime Minister was accused of giving major to concessions to India, the United States and Mauritius.
And Starmer is keeping his cards close to his chest, only insisting the deal will be "good for our economy" despite record levels of net migration.
Meanwhile, the EU is still pushing for a looser migration arrangement with Britain.
In a leaked document shared with the FT, Brussels is demanding a “dedicated visa” to enable young people to work, study or “simply travel” in the UK as long as they have sufficient funds.
It also proposes that EU students should return to paying the same £9,535 fees to attend British universities as home students.
The UK is instead proposing a “time-limited [and] capped” deal that would mean visitors had “no right to bring dependants or access benefits”.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Sir Keir Starmer speaks at the Anti-Brexit 'Trust the People' march and rallyPANegotiations around a Youth Mobility scheme have also proved problematic for Starmer's Cabinet, putting Cooper at odds with Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
However, the Home Secretary eventually backed down to support a “one in, one out” proposal, The Times has claimed.
More than 60 Labour MPs have already signed a letter calling for “a new and bespoke youth visa scheme”.
The growing gaggle of Labour MPs have been facing increasing pressure to push for a more relaxed migratory deal with the Brussels bloc.
However, even the Liberal Democrats have dismissed the EU’s initial quota-free demand.
“We need a proper UK-EU Youth Mobility scheme like we have with Australia and South Korea,” a Liberal Democrat spokesman said.
“A capped scheme that delivers young Brits the fantastic opportunities to work abroad. Anything else would be a non-starter.”
Starmer will have an eye on the political manoeuvrings to his left and right ahead of putting forward his “reset” agenda on Monday, with Thomas-Symonds already hinting at the principles of a Youth Mobility scheme being laid out in full.
