Keir Starmer’s lead negotiator on Europe has enthused about how excited he is by the prospect of an EU youth mobility scheme, as he signalled a broader government shift towards embracing closer ties with the bloc.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister in charge of negotiating Britain’s relationship with the EU, said on Wednesday he was looking forward to signing a deal to let young people travel and work more freely across Europe.
His tone contrasted with that struck just a few months ago, when the government would not even say whether it was willing to enter negotiations over such a scheme.
He made the comments during a speech in which he promised to agree a new agricultural export deal by the start of 2027, as ministers begin to talk more openly about their desire to move closer to Brussels.
“I’m very excited that the youth experience [scheme] gives us great opportunities for Brits to be able to go overseas to experience different cultures. Its going to be fantastic,” Thomas-Symonds said.
“I would say to parliamentary colleagues, it’s going to be all about MPs of all parties actually showcasing the opportunities of young British people.”
Thomas-Symonds has led negotiations over Starmer’s reset in EU relations, which culminated earlier this year in an agreement to start talks over both an agricultural deal and a youth mobility scheme.
He said on Wednesday he wanted to have the new export agreement in place by the start of 2027, giving the government 18 months to complete the negotiations.
British officials will be pushing for exemptions to EU rules such as restrictions on developing genetically modified crops, while France, in particular, is likely to ask the government to drop its pre-election pledge to ban imports of foie gras.
Thomas-Symonds admitted the UK would be asking for carve-outs from European rules, but said that Britain would seek to “dynamically align” with the EU, meaning its regulations will change in line with European ones in the future.
The principle of dynamic alignment was for many years a bete noire for Brexit supporters, who said it would mean ceding control of British regulations to Brussels. Thomas-Symonds sought to make a virtue of it, however, saying: “We are choosing to align with common high standards because it is in our national economic interest and will save businesses up and down the country.”
His warm words about a youth mobility scheme were a departure from recent ministerial reluctance to discuss such a possibility for fear of reopening the debate over free movement from the EU.
It reflects an increasing confidence in Labour circles that they can win the argument over European relations, even as they worry about how to combat Nigel Farage’s message on immigration.
“Nigel Farage can’t bring himself to have any relationship with the EU … because Nigel Farage wants Britain to fail,” Thomas-Symonds said.
Asked, however, to rebut Farage’s comments on Tuesday that asylum seekers had mounted an “invasion” of Britain, the minister said: “We all use our own, language. I wouldn’t use Nigel Farage’s language.”
