London Mayor Wants EU to Grant Freedom of Movement, Study & Work to Young Brits

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• London mayor Sadiq Khan wants a new arrangement with the EU, that would permit young people from UK to live and work in the EU.
• Mayor Khan has suggested a “youth mobility” agreement or changes to post-Brexit employment visa rules with the EU.
• The proposal has not been welcomed by the Conservative Party.

London mayor Sadiq Khan wants the United Kingdom to make a new arrangement with the European Union, so that young Brits can move to the EU to live, study and work there, without any hurdles, just like pre-Brexit.

Mayor Khan has shared his ideas with the Observer, which according to the Guardian, might be one of the most pro-European proposals by a senior Labour politician since the 2016 referendum to leave the EU.

Pointing out that he is not asking for re-joining the EU, Khan has said that the arrangement could be made though a “youth mobility” agreement with the EU Member States, or changes to post-Brexit employment visa rules.

Through the agreement, or the changes, Khan wants to make it possible for young people from the UK to study, travel and fill vacancies in key sectors of the economy in the EU countries.

The government’s hard Brexit has done damage right across London and it is young people who have been hardest hit in so many ways. 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.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan

Back in December 2023, the mayor had signed a petition for the UK to re-join the EU’s Erasmus programme, launched by the UK branch of the European Movement.

Whereas a report by the UK Department for Education published on January 3 has pointed out that universities and colleges have found it hard to complete applications to the Turing Scheme, which was supposed to replace the Erasmus.

As a result, funding for students was often delivered late. In addition, only 20,000 individuals have benefited from the scheme, unlike the government’s targets of 35,000. The scheme as such has been deemed inadequate.

The proposal of Mayor Khan has been criticized by many politicians in the UK, including Conservative Party chairman, Richard Holden.

It’s hardly surprising Sadiq Khan wants to drag us back into the EU given Sir Keir Starmer spent years trying to block Brexit then overturn the largest democratic vote in British history – and now he’s plotting to rip up our new relationship with the EU and even drag us back into the EU by ‘stealth’ with plans to hand millions of EU nationals the vote.

Conservative Party chairman, Richard Holden

Many believe that Khan is using this problem as a part of its campaign for a third term as the mayor of UK’s capital in May’s mayoral election. Yet, this is not the first time that Khan makes such a proposal as in April 2023, he has urged the UK’s Government to ease the post-Brexit visa rules that preventing EU citizens from visiting London for tourism, work and study purposes.

While there haven’t been any significant reactions from the EU side regarding this proposal, the German ambassador in London, Miguel Berger told German Press agency a few weeks ago that his country is already testing a similar arrangement which would permit people between the ages of 18 and 35 to live and work in the UK for up to two years.