Keir Starmer is set to agree a youth mobility scheme in alignment with the European Union despite his controversial clampdown on migration, a senior government source has confirmed with The Independent.
The prime minister’s announcement this week to “significantly” reduce legal migration was apparently designed to “allow room” for the potential scheme as part of his post-Brexit reset of relations with the bloc, The Independent has been told.
The speech on Monday sparked alarm with claims it echoed Enoch Powell’s infamous “rivers of blood” speech in 1968 that whipped up a frenzy of anti-immigration hatred across the UK.
It is understood the mobility scheme could be similar to the one available between the UK and Australia, allowing people aged between 18 and 30 to travel and work freely between countries for two years. It is still not clear though when the scheme might begin.
The much-discussed Brexit reset deal is also set to bring about much closer cooperation on European defence, with the UK set to play a much more advanced role. The source revealed the PM’s next target will be a trade deal with the Gulf states in a bid to unlock billions in funding for economic growth in the UK.
The senior government figure warned that the deal will anger “the two extremities” of the Brexit debate but that it “will be superb” when it is unveiled at a summit on Monday.
After signing a massive free trade agreement with India and two days later a US deal with Donald Trump, Sir Keir’s strategy is coming together.
“I hope Keir gets credit as it’s him that’s driven this strategy,” The Independent was told.
But the careful balance he has had to strike to “have his cake and eat it” was to hold back on some of the demands from Trump to allow the UK to align with the EU.
“Essentially why the US deal didn’t go further so we could keep the alignment of the EU deal,” the senior source confirmed.
They added that the reason “the door is open for further US deals” was to allow the flexibility of exploring further options once the post-Brexit deal is set.
But the revelation appears to confirm the slip made by Rachel Reeves in the US when she told the BBC that the EU was a priority over the US.
“We will do a lot to get more and smoother trade, probably including a youth mobility scheme. Both extremities will be unhappy but most will see it as a good deal.
“The Brexiteers will cry betrayal and the Remainers will demand rejoin but it’ll be superb.
“The deal will be good and when that sits alongside India and the US it’ll be great.”
The government’s own research on the India deal claimed it would increase bilateral trade by £25.5 billion, £15.7 billion of which is expected to be from rising exports from UK businesses into India.
Speaking last week to The Independent, Sir Keir made it clear that his vision of the UK as a trading hub between the major economies is now central to his plans to deliver economic growth.
He has been buoyed with his successes last week not least in reversing the Barack Obama warning the UK would be “back of the queue” for the US if it voted for Brexit. His efforts to build a close relationship with Trump in fact put the UK at the front of the queue for international trade deals.
In his interview with The Independent, Sir Keir promised that the EU deal “will be ambitious” to go alongside “the big wins” of the agreements with India and the US.
He said: “It’s central to what we want to do, which is to grow the economy, create wealth, make sure people feel better off.
“When you’re protecting jobs, creating more opportunities, that is a really good way of creating wealth. That’s been the number one mission of government from the get go, but also in the environment that we’re now in”
While Ms Reeves has been under fire over tax rises and welfare cuts, he argued that the tough decisions they had taken have made the UK an attractive one for other countries to do deals with and businesses to invest in.
He said: “The fact that we’ve now had four interest rate cuts in a row, that we’ve stabilised the economy, we’ve got clear fiscal rules mean other countries now see the UK as a place that they want to do trade with, and it’s a really important component, because countries have choices about who they trade with.”
