Labour is pushing Britain back into the European Union by the back door, it was claimed after Chancellor Rachel Reeves insisted a coming youth mobility scheme will be “good for the economy”.
The details of the “youth experience visa” are being thrashed out with Brussels but Ms Reeves believes the impact of the scheme will be so significant the Office for Budget Responsibility should take it into account when making its economic forecasts ahead of the Autumn Budget. If it concludes the numbers coming into the work in the UK will boost growth this could reduce the need for major spending cuts or tax hikes.
Ms Reeves told the Times she wants an “ambitious” scheme which will allow EU youth to “come to the UK and have the same opportunities that my generation had to travel and work and study in Europe”.
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice warned: “Any youth mobility scheme would effectively open a backdoor to freedom of movement, which 17.4 million people voted against in the Brexit referendum. It risks opening the floodgates to EU migrants who will arrive in the UK and find reasons to overstay their visas.
“This cabinet stacked with Remainer politicians and a Prime Minister who tried to block the democratic will of the people cannot be trusted to negotiate with the EU.”
Conservative Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp shared his concerns, saying: “Rachel Reeves’ comments confirm what we have long warned – Labour are edging Britain back towards Brussels by the back door. She is gaslighting the public by pretending the only way to avoid higher taxes is to throw open our borders.”
“A so-called ‘unlimited youth mobility scheme’ with the EU is nothing more than a new open-door immigration route, at a time when we need firm control of our borders.”
Mr Philp added: “Instead of listening to the British people who voted to take back control, Labour are plotting to unravel Brexit piece by piece.”
Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride said the Chancellor’s call for the OBR to take the scheme into account was a sign of desperation at the heart of Government. The OBR is expected to downgrade Britain’s expected productivity – a move which could leave a black hole of tens of billions of pounds in the Chancellor’s fiscal plans.
Sir Mel said: “When the Chancellor is reduced to begging the OBR to score a yet to be clarified youth mobility scheme, to scrabble together a few hundred million at best, it shows just how desperate things have become. Britain faces a massive fiscal black hole of Rachel Reeves’ own making.
“No amount of creative accounting can cover for the fact that her reckless borrowing has put us in this position. Rachel Reeves has already raised taxes by £40billion a year.
“Despite saying she wouldn’t come back for more, the Chancellor’s reckless economic mismanagement means more painful tax rises loom. Rachel Reeves will tax your children’s future to pay for her failure.”
The mobility scheme is expected to be time-limited, allowing people aged 18 to 30 allowed to live in the UK for two years. It is reported up to 50,000 EU citizens could be allowed to take part each year.
