Rebuilding burnt bridges
Five years ago, I headed to Europe along with 16,000 other young Brits under the Erasmus+ exchange programme. Even more students and trainees travelled in the other direction that year. But Brexit put an end to the UK's involvement in the programme from 2020 onwards – and last month Britain's government said it has ”no plans” to rejoin the scheme out of fears it could lead to free movement.
Yet Brussels sees a mobility deal for those aged under 30 as a low-hanging fruit with significant impact on citizens, through which both sides can improve UK-EU relations. Last year, the UK reentered the EU's flagship scientific research project Horizon and has, unsuccessfully, sought bilateral youth programmes with individual member states such as Spain and Germany. Closer cultural exchange has also been set as a priority for Britain's recently-elected Labour government.
Since the UK left the EU, there has been a sharp fall in European students applying to British universities. School trips from mainland Europe have also dropped by up to two thirds since Brexit. Meanwhile, the last two years have seen the highest uptake in Erasmus+ participants across Europe since the programme was initiated in 1987 – with almost all of the 33 countries involved receiving a higher number of incoming students compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Youth exchange between the EU and Britain has waned since Brexit – further exacerbated by poor language skills in the UK. In response, the bloc's proposal to facilitate youth mobility aims to ”rebuild human bridges between young Europeans on both sides of the Channel.” And the sentiment seemingly resonates among the British public: recent polling finds a majority favour a youth mobility scheme, while only 15% oppose the idea.