The fact that Sadiq Khan backed Remain and still favours closer ties with the European Union is hardly news. The London Mayor has been a consistent advocate of rejoining the customs union and single market, and a staunch defender of free movement.
Khan’s stance has put him at odds with the Labour leadership in Westminster, where Sir Keir Starmer has been keen to shed his anti-Brexit credentials. However, the proposal for an EU-UK youth mobility visa scheme, which the Mayor put forward at the weekend, may actually win favour from a future Labour government.
The proposal would grant under-35s in the UK the opportunity to study or work in the EU-27 nations, while granting the same reciprocal right for EU citizens under-35 here in the UK.
Sadiq Khan’s EU youth mobility scheme proposal has merit. It would both benefit young workers in the UK, and could help British businesses and public services fill troublesome skills gaps.
The proposal is not new, and has been backed by a wide range of politicians, business groups and campaigners. The former environment secretary George Eustice, who served in Boris Johnson’s government, came out in favour of the proposal last summer.
Eustice in particular drew attention to the shortages in the food and farming sector, where a lack of seasonal agricultural workers has damaged the UK agriculture and food processing sectors.
Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of industry body UK Hospitality, also backs the plan. She said: “Youth mobility schemes already exist for Commonwealth and give temporary permission to travel, study and work abroad.
“They enable cultural exchange and internships. It’s something we’ve campaigned for … and pleased to have Mayor’s support.”
Such schemes can act as a pressure relief valve – enabling young people to move when their country is hit by rising youth unemployment.
Often during a downturn it is youth unemployment that rises fastest as young people entering the labour market struggle to find work, and those already in work are often on more insecure contracts, and therefore most easily sacked.
The likely incoming Labour government is forecast to inherit rising unemployment, with youth unemployment in the UK increasing by more than 150,000 in the last year.
In 2020, when Starmer ran to be Labour leader, he promised to “defend free movement as we leave the EU”. It was one of his 10 pledges to Labour members, most of which have since been discarded.
In January 2020, Labour also voted for a Liberal Democrat amendment to compel the then Boris Johnson government to negotiate UK participation in Erasmus, the European Union student exchange programme.
Erasmus was, and remains for EU member states, the “European Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students” – allowing students to study across Europe.
The then Prime Minister dismissed the need for the amendment, promising: “There is no threat to the Erasmus scheme. We will continue to participate. UK students will continue to be able to enjoy the benefits of exchanges with our European friends and partners, just as they will continue to be able to come to this country.”
In familiar fashion, by the end of 2020, Johnson had reneged on that pledge. But by then Labour had embarked on a new trajectory, with a new slogan “make Brexit work” in an attempt to dissociate Starmer from his former role as shadow Brexit Secretary.
Khan is explicitly challenging the loss of Erasmus with his recent announcement: “Not only is it more difficult for young people to move abroad for work, but the Government’s wrong-headed decision to leave the Erasmus scheme has made it much harder for students to study abroad too.
“I’m clear that I’d be supportive of a youth mobility scheme, which would benefit us economically, culturally and socially. While the UK may no longer be part of the EU, London is, and always will be, a European city.”
Of course, Khan does have an eye on the forthcoming election, where his aim will be to mobilise younger voters in London against an opponent, Conservative Susan Hall, who has burnished her illiberal credentials – backing Brexit and the current Government’s Rwanda scheme.
In the 2016 EU referendum, more than 60 per cent of Londoners voted to Remain, and polls show Londoners tend to be more liberal on issues of migration and multiculturalism.
But it’s not just in London, where this policy would be a vote winner. Polling for Best for Britain shows that 68 per cent back such an EU-UK youth mobility scheme, with only 19 per cent against.
Among 2019 Conservative voters, the policy is backed by nearly two-thirds. Even among the electorate that voted Leave in 2016, 58 per cent back a reciprocal youth mobility scheme with the EU compared with only 27 per cent against.
So with solid evidence that this is a policy that is backed by business, by Tory voters, and by Leave voters, it should be a no-brainer for the sensibilities of Starmer’s Labour Party.
One fly in the ointment may be that Labour has said it wants net migration figures down. It also has said it wants to train more British people rather than rely on migration.
However, temporary work visas of the sort envisaged by this scheme do not count towards the long-term net migration figures, overcoming one political obstacle.
Whether this is kite-flying by Khan as a serious bit of policy advocacy or mostly just shrewd positioning ahead of the elections in May, the London Mayor joins a growing chorus in backing such a scheme – which might have many benefits for an incoming Labour government.
Andrew Fisher is the former executive director of policy at the Labour Party
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