Hope, cowardice and the EU’s youth mobility plan

First the good news – the European Commission has fleshed out its proposals for a post-Brexit deal that would allow British 18- to 30-year-olds to work and study in Europe, visa-free.

Now the inevitable bad news – both the Conservatives and Labour, the party currently running the UK and the one that will soon be running it, say they aren’t interested.

The EC, effectively the EU’s cabinet, are proposing to negotiate with Britain over a reciprocal scheme that would offer young people a four-year stay in their destination country.

They would not need a guaranteed job or university place but underpinning the offer – and easing Brexiteer fears – would be a series of conditions, including a requirement for young people to take out health insurance so they would not be a burden on the host country. They would also need proof of sufficient subsistence funds.

“The objective would be to facilitate youth exchanges, making it easier for young EU citizens to travel, work and live in the UK, with reciprocity for young UK nationals in a member state,” the commission said.

The obvious upside for the UK would be the return of a young European workforce to fill vacancies in the university and hospitality sectors. Young Britons would again be able to work in the EU – including seasonal work in the skiing and other tourist sectors, or as au pairs.

The offer is seen as a breakthrough from the Commission, previously opposed to anything that might be seen as renegotiating Brexit.

But it has already been dismissed out of hand by the Conservative government – still in thrall to the party’s pro-Brexit wing – and by Labour, running scared of opening up the issue before the general election.

The Tories claim the offer is a non-starter as it would benefit EU citizens more than British ones – since there are more of them – and make its unworkable net migration targets even more difficult to hit.

That stance is predictable but In the light of opinion polls, it also looks irrelevant since all indications are that Labour will take power in the next eight months.

Yet the opposition seems equally disinterested in a proposal that would be a game-changer for sectors that have suffered since we officially left the EU.

“Labour has no plans for a youth mobility scheme,” a party spokesperson said, claiming the proposal was “synonymous with free movement”.

With time limits and financial guarantees, it plainly is not. It is, however, both a significant first step in relations and the only post-Brexit proposal on which the EU is currently prepared to negotiate.

Labour will have no choice but to reconsider when in power. So why not begin the conversation now?

The only answer is a refusal to address Brexit that may seem electorally pragmatic now but to Britain’s young people must increasingly look like cowardice.