“We are not considering an EU-wide youth mobility scheme and there will be no return to freedom of movement.”
I find the separatism baffling and sad.
Thinking back to feudal systems and border fees on city and governance borders, the move to bigger national states with unified law and freedom of movement brought huge gains and evaporated barriers.
Multi-national agreements and especially the EU with its Schengen Raum did the same on a much bigger scale.
Geographically, the UK borders the EU, and sea all around. As a country, I don’t see another country or union I’d like to border to more than the EU.
It’s just really sad to see borders for goods and especially people and youth be put up again.
The Erasmus program enabled a lot of Britons to study abroad and widen their perspectives. I think it brought a whole lot of benefits to the UK, and while it obviously benefited almost every youth participating in it, I think that the UK as a whole probably benefited the most.
Fresh proposals to allow young people to move between the UK and the EU will be presented to the British government within weeks
This is the relevant part of the article
Also, from the UK side:
Starmer has promised a significantly closer trading relationship with the EU, and has prioritised a defence and security pact, which officials say can be agreed quickly, and an agreement on agricultural products, which is likely to take longer.
“We are not considering an EU-wide youth mobility scheme and there will be no return to freedom of movement.”
I.e. they want free movement of lettuces and things that go boom but still be xenophobic assholes towards their trade partners.
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