Brexit: a prison for young people?

The Brexit debate in the UK remains confused and confusing. In this new Federal Trust video, Brendan Donnelly and John Stevens discuss the irony of both Rejoiners and Brexiters discussing the recent proposals from the European Commission to help young people to travel for work and study as if they were a prelude to the restoration of Freedom of Movement. Both Rejoiners and Brexiters are wrong in this assessment.

SPEAKERS
Brendan Donnelly is the Director of the Federal Trust and a former Conservative MEP.
John Stevens is the Chair of the Federal Trust and an analyst and commentator on economic affairs.

ABOUT THE FEDERAL TRUST
The Federal Trust is a research institute studying regional, national, European and global levels of government. It has always had a particular interest in the European Union and Britain’s place in it. The Federal Trust has no allegiance to any political party. It is registered as a charity for the purposes of education and research.

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[johnjephcote]

I was very young when the first Iron Curtain descended upon the Continent of Europe. Now, in my grey hairs I am trapped behind our own Iron Curtain.

[abbofun]

With respect to Brexit Labour is almost as guilty as the Tories, utterly disgusting

[franklamosa]

While it would not be freedom of movement, it would make younger people aware of what has been lost (and what they lost with the end of the FoM). I think the fear is that, becoming aware of FoM, there would be mounting pressure to walk back from Brexit.

[Korschtal]

The people against FOM always forget that it works both ways, so for example this working class kid from Manchester was able to move to Europe and build a life that I couldn't have in the UK, and now my kids have opportunities I couldn't dream of.
This is why the Tories wanted to get rid of FOM; they wanted a captive workforce.

[Rich-ngyy]

It's a prison for me. I'm not young. Why on earth do people live in a fiction of what young people aspire to and what people not classed as young aspire to. My life was building up to living in the EU and taking my mother. My business was with the EU and I would be there but the transition period coincided with covid and relocating then was impossible so time ran out. I suffer from terrible depression which I do not get when working travelling or living in the EU. The lack of freedom of movement is a disaster to me. The idea that older people are set in their ways and in a rut of a life that does not need to be helped or to change and that young people are somehow embarking ambitiously into a world where they are more likely to thrive and be prepared to uproot, is in my experience if anything a reversal of reality. Young people are often closely allied to roots and friends and family and want a gap year and nothing more... Rules based on age suck. Obviously I wouldn't want to deny freedom of movement to anyone just because I can't have it but the notion that it is of more benefit to people under 35 than people over it is a joke. It could not be further from the truth. No age defines or describes personality in any case. In truth age is a fiction based on a geological phenomenon. People just want to live better lives and discrimination is dreadful.

[colinsmith]

Our place is firmly in europe. We have to stop thinking we are exceptional. Just try to be equal with our eurpean cousins. Our young deserve better than our isolationist instincts.

[indricotherium]

Don't look for rationale in Labour's EU position - there is none. They're just out of their depth, fearful of taking a lead on all but very specific minor points of convergence. The biggest paradoxes are 1) that about 65% of Labour voters and members wanted to remain (and they know it) and 2) Sir K doesn't give a toss about upsetting them.

[gerhardaigner]

Is it not about time for people in Britain to make up their mind whether they want to be part of the European Project or not. There is still a lot of anti European attitude in GB and if there is a particular interest expressed it is to gain a particular benefit. Never about contributing something.

[paul]

The UK : A prison now post brexit for us all.

[edwardanthony]

Brain drains are unfortunate, but real enough in lots of countries, with or without Brexit. It's the economy...

[johnjeanb]

A mix-feeling proposal from the EU. On one hand the idea is to give young people an idea of what they are missing to encourage them to fight for a return to the EU. On the other hand, it is about, for them to construct their future in Europe and then, after a few years, to deprive them of it (Must return to the UK or change nationality).
One thing is sadly true I think. The UK, once a beacon for openness, prosperity and FoM is now an obscurantist, aging country very few young Europeans are dreaming of.
The reasons you give for Starmer to be against the FoM and a join-application ring very true (afraid to scare away Red wall voters) although in my opinion, it is an utter stupidity (aka: to stop EU citizens - mostly white Christian Europeans and replace them with faraway coloured people with a totally different culture). Is Starmer dream for the UK for it to become an African or Asian country?
Brendan Donnelly is right: a global approach (a join application to the EU) is far better than a patchwork of bi-lateral agreements that the EU hate (Refer to Swiss agreements the EU is trying to kill). BUT, anyways nothing will happen until BOTH Labour and the second most important UK party (Is i still the Tory party?) unequivocally support joining the EU. So alas for you, it is a very remote perspective (Not ONE UK party supports a join application°.
Here, in the EU, we don't really care but we are not prepared to make ANY SORT of exception, waiver, reduction: the full admission ticket, no less.

[daviddack]

And an early death for the Rest of us, Poverty. Re-Join Now

[johannagarda]

Wait everyone, wait for a year or two and they (the party in charge) will create some special FoM with India or China to stop the EU from offerring the UK any further FoM proposal.

[jerryorange]

Brexit delivered - around 90k Europeans leave the UK per annum.

[Piden-lb]

It’s a shame for young British people. But unfortunately the UK is not ready for such a program. Nationalism still rules. The EU should propose this program to countries who will soon join the EU.

[andrewblewett]

Palpable sense of extreme frustration. If the under 30s were given their own mini vote in this issue there isn’t much doubt how it would turn out. Maybe the Commission’s timing was not the best.

[brendandonnelly]

Who has said they would not support it if the UK were serious about rejoining as fully committed members?

[Piden-lb]

Unless there is a major shift of opinion in the UK they should not be “offered” anything. They simply don’t want it. Sadly the people who do want it have to suffer because of their government.

[willieckaslike]

So do many Brits, but sadly more were "conned" into believing "the grass was greener etc". ALL are now paying the price of this horrendous mistake. With regard to re-joining. There is very little chance if any of that happening. All 27 members would have to agree on this, and many have said they would not support it. Since Brexit, the Bloc has moved on, whereas Britain simply has not !

[adrianwhyatt]

We need a both/and not an either/or approach. Already we have seen European standards continue to be accepted, as well as rejoining Horizon, the Windsor framework for the Northern Ireland protocol and negotiations over Gibraltar joining Schengen.

Likewise, polls indicate that 68% of the UK public supports freedom of movement throughout CANZUK, which would tend to result in net migration from the UK to these wealthier countries (kith and kin Old Commonwealth (with the exception of 8 million increasingly bilingual and multilingual French Canadians). We had this free movement until 1983 with these countries and it is entirely compatible with EU membership. Portugal has free movement with Brazil and is working towards extending it to the other 6 Portuguese-speaking countries. Spain has free movement with the Hispanic countries of Latin America, and of course, the Irish Republic continues to enjoy free movement with the UK.

At the same time we should aim for over-arching negotiations with EFTA, the EEA and the EU. We should rejoin Euroatom.