Youth mobility scheme may be delayed to ensure success of UK-EU summit

A deadline for a youth mobility scheme between the EU and the UK could be deferred by six months to ensure Andy Burnham has a successful "reset" summit on 20 November, diplomats have said.

Visa quotas, university fees, and NHS surcharges remain sticking points ahead of post-Brexit negotiations next month. EU ambassadors in Brussels heard that the UK is still insisting on international tuition fees, quotas, and an NHS surcharge for EU students. This has fueled fears that the summit could fail, just as the Prime Minister is promising to unveil a new vision for Britain’s long-term relationship with the EU.

Sources indicate that the UK continues to push for a cap of about 50,000 a year on the number of EU citizens allowed in the country for work, travel, or study under the proposed Youth Experience Scheme (YES) visas. Some EU member states want the cap much higher, at up to 500,000, while others advocate for no cap at all.

The UK is also insisting that any YES visa holders pay the £1,035 NHS surcharge to cover potential doctor or hospital visits, although a 25% discount has been suggested.

Negotiations on two other issues—a food and drink trade deal and the emissions trading system—are almost complete, but views on the youth mobility scheme remain divided. Sources say there is near-agreement on demands from the National Farmers’ Union that crops grown using fungicides yet to be approved in the EU could be sold in the bloc under a transition arrangement in the sanitary and phyto-sanitary agreement.