Let British students back into free movement scheme, EU committee says

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. But today’s resolution is a significant step, as the European Commission is urged to approach the UK government about “the possibility of negotiating an ambitious reciprocal youth mobility partnership.” A British Youth Council ambassador has said Brexit caused a ‘devastating loss of exchange and educational opportunities for young people on both sides of the Channel’ Maurizio Cuttin, the British Youth Council’s elected UK Young Ambassador to the European Youth Forum and advisor for the EESC’s opinion report, told the Independent that the UK’s exit from the Erasmus scheme has resulted in a “devastating loss of exchange and educational opportunities for young people on both sides of the Channel.” He added: “The recent collapse of the British Youth Council - partly attributed to the gaping hole of funding left from our country’s exit from the Erasmus+ scheme - is further evidence of this. He told The Observer: “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.” Sadiq Khan has pledged to offer a reciprocal scheme for young people studying in the capital as part of mayoral campaign He added: “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.” Support for freedom of movement for young people has also been backed by former Tory cabinet minister and leading Brexiteer George Eustice, who called on Rishi Sunak’s government to open bilateral negotiations with the EU and offer young Europeans under 35 the right to two-year visas to work in Britain. “The planets are now aligning for some of this damage to be reversed, and with the EU now backing the plan, it’s time the UK Government signed up to a reciprocal EU-UK Youth Mobility Scheme and allowed British students back into Erasmus.”