Sadiq Khan slams Brexit 'damage' as he signs petition to 'reopen the door' to EU young people
Sadiq Khan has signed a petition for the UK to rejoin the EU's Erasmus scheme, slamming the "damage" done by Brexit
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Sadiq Khan has signed a petition for the UK to rejoin the EU's Erasmus scheme, slamming the "damage" done by Brexit.
The scheme is the EU's programme to "support education, training, youth and sport in Europe".
Khan signed the petition, launched on Monday by the UK branch of the European Movement.
The group said rejoining Erasmus would be a "vital step in retaining Britain’s standing in the world and upholding the world renown of our universities".
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Khan said it would help "reopen the door for young people from across Europe".
He said: "We have seen the damage done by the Government’s hard Brexit right across our city, including to our world-class educational institutions with students from across Europe no longer able to choose London to study abroad and vice versa.
"That’s why I’m supporting the campaign to re-join the Erasmus+ programme.
"The UK may no longer be part of the EU, but London is, and always will be a European city and by re-joining the programme we can reopen the door for young people from across Europe to once again choose our city as we work to build a better London for everyone."
The petition currently has over 8,000 signatures, including former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable and former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas.
The SNP's Europe spokesperson Alyn Smith and Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader Liz Saville-Roberts have also signed the petition.
It is aiming for 20,000 backers in total.
While the then prime minister Boris Johnson claimed the UK would remain part of Erasmus post-Brexit, it was revealed in December 2020 that the UK and EU had failed to reach and agreement on the issue.
Johnson said leaving the scheme was a "tough decision", but claimed the UK "loses out" financially because of the volume of EU nationals who come to the UK to study.
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Khan said Erasmus would help 'reopen the door for young people from across Europe'
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The Erasmus programme was replaced with the UK's own Turing Scheme, which the Government described as a "truly global programme with every country in the world eligible to partner with UK education settings".
It said that Turing "will benefit more people from disadvantaged backgrounds", claiming that "while the UK was part of Erasmus, the most privileged were 1.7 times more likely to benefit from studying abroad".