Sophie Corcoran: Labour’s EU youth mobility plan is a knife in the back for young Brits

At their recent party conference, Labour ministers made a renewed push for an EU youth mobility scheme, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves describing it as “good for the economy” and Nick Thomas-Symonds calling it a “fantastic opportunity.”

But neither of them will be the ones living with the consequences. That burden will fall on people like me and my generation.

Let me be clear: the EU youth mobility scheme is a knife in the back for young Brits. It’s simple, it means more competition for jobs, higher rents, and very little to gain in return. Some have described it as “make or break” for securing a deal with the EU, but I urge the government not to use us as sacrificial lambs to win applause at Brussels dinner parties.

To understand why this proposal is so damaging, we first need to look at the reality young people already face. The graduate job market is in serious trouble. Over the past year, hiring for graduate roles has fallen by 35 per cent, reaching its lowest level since 2018. Many graduates say they’ve applied for hundreds of jobs, sometimes more than 500, without success.

Unemployment among recent graduates is now at its highest point in over a decade (excluding the pandemic years). Across the wider age group, 13.8 per cent of 16–24-year-olds are unemployed, that’s nearly one in seven. And almost a million young peopleare not in education, employment, or training (NEET).

We are already facing a youth unemployment crisis. Many young people want to work but cannot find jobs due to fierce competition and falling hiring rates, problems undoubtedly made worse by Labour’s tax on jobs.

Against this backdrop, introducing a youth mobility scheme would be reckless. It would pour fuel on an already raging fire, driving competition even higher and making it harder, when it’s already nearly impossible, for young people to find secure employment.

Supporters of the scheme argue that it would be a two-way street, allowing young Britons to work in the EU as well. But that claim doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Youth unemployment is already much higher across much of Europe than it is here.

In 2025, youth unemployment stood at 27 per cent in Estonia, 26.6 per cent in Spain, 24.6 per cent in Sweden, 25.3 per cent in Romania, 23.8 per cent in Finland, 20.2 per cent in Luxembourg, 18.9 per cent in Greece, 18.7 per cent in Italy, and 18.5 per cent in France. Across the EU as a whole, the average sits at 14.6 per cent, higher than the UK’s rate and rising.

In other words, young Europeans would have far more incentive to come here for work than young Britons would have to go there. The result would be simple: even more competition for already scarce graduate and entry-level jobs, while offering very little benefit in return.

And it’s not just jobs that are under strain. Even for those who do manage to find work, the cost of living, particularly housing, has become a defining challenge for young adults.

In London, rents now swallow over 40 per cent of the average income, and across England the figure stands at 36 per cent. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the proportion of 25–34-year-olds still living with their parents has risen by more than a third in the past twenty years.

Now, imagine adding thousands of young EU workers into that already broken system. If Labour’s youth mobility scheme were introduced, many would naturally gravitate towards the UK’s major cities, the same places where housing demand is already outstripping supply.

The result? An even tighter rental market and soaring prices. For young Brits already struggling to move out, move on, or save for the future, this policy would make a bad situation worse.

Beyond the economic impact, there’s a deeper political issue at stake. Ending free movement was a cornerstone of the 2016 Brexit vote. Millions supported leaving the EU because they wanted Britain to control its own immigration policy and prioritise opportunity for its own citizens.

While Labour insists the youth mobility scheme is different from free movement, the reality is that the practical effect would be pretty similar. It would allow large numbers of young EU citizens to live and work here with minimal restrictions.

Whether intentional or not, this would look like a quiet step back towards the old system, a reversal of Brexit in all but name.

Overall, it’s clear to see that a youth mobility scheme would make life harder for young people at a time when life is already hard. It would deepen the youth unemployment crisis, push housing costs even higher, and undermine the principles of Brexit that millions voted for.

Keir Starmer should be focused on fixing the unemployment and housing challenges that are robbing young people of their futures, not using us as bargaining chips in his attempt to cosy up to Brussels.

If Labour truly wants to champion the next generation, it should start by putting young Brits first, not stabbing us in the back as part of its latest Brexit betrayal.