PAYMASTER GENERAL DENIES GOVERNMENT U-TURN ON EU MOBILITY DEAL

THE government has not U-turned on an EU-wide youth mobility scheme or a return to freedom of movement, Paymaster General Nick Thomas-Symonds has said.

Asked if the government had changed course after ruling out a mobility scheme in September, he told the Camilla Tominey Show on GB News: “I’m working very hard at the moment, right up to the wire, to deliver for the United Kingdom, and to try to deliver a deal tomorrow that’s going to give us more secure borders, that’s going to give us lower household bills, and is also going to be good for jobs, good for investment in the United Kingdom.

“But I’m pleased to take a break out of that to come on to your show. Whether in relation to youth mobility, specifically that you’ve asked me about, I’ve also said that we would be open to sensible EU proposals. I have been saying that for some months.

“But firstly, we will not go back to freedom of movement. And secondly, anything has to be consistent with the government’s approach in the migration white paper last week to reduce the level of net migration. The level of net migration has been too high, people have been telling us on the doorsteps.

“It quadrupled between 2019 and 2023, to just under 1 million. This government is committed to bringing the net migration figure down, and that’s exactly what we will do.”

Asked if a youth mobility scheme would mean a return to free movement, he said: ”It isn’t freedom of movement. We have 13 existing youth mobility schemes. We’ve got a youth mobility scheme with Uruguay, for example. Nobody suggests we’ve got freedom of movement with Uruguay.

“I’ve said it has to be smart. It has to be controlled. That absolutely isn’t freedom of movement, and it will also give, by the way, opportunities for young people here in Britain to experience different cultures, to go abroad to work, to go abroad for study.

“But that is just one aspect, Camilla. What we will be looking at today in these final hours is this deal overall is in the national interest, overall in the interests of the British people, and we will only sign it if it does.”

Asked if a deal would mean paying more money to Brussels, he said: “No, no…I’m talking about the general EU budget. What we are talking about here is where there are specific programs that are in the national interest. We are already a government doing that.

“The previous government did that too, and it’s not about handing money back. What it’s about is benefit and the Horizon [research program], the money we put into Horizon research, we don’t describe that as money back to Brussels at all, that is money into a collective program.”