UK may have to accept almost 100,000 young Europeans a year to unlock Brexit deal

British negotiators think they can strike a youth mobility agreement with the EU while staying under the “psychologically important” figure of 100,000 visas, The i Paper can reveal. It comes amid a continuing tug of war between London and Brussels on the under-30s travel scheme, with the outcome potentially determining whether a wider Brexit reset deal can be delivered at this month’s UK-EU summit . Britain and the EU are currently in the final stages of negotiation over an agreement covering food and drinks trade, carbon emissions trading and under-30s migration, with the hope that a package will be unveiled at the summit in Brussels on 20 November.

Of the three main items under discussion, the youth mobility agreement – which would enable under-30s to live, work, study and travel for a time-limited period on both sides of the Channel – has proven by far the most contentious. The UK Government has been keen to keep the cap on numbers relatively low to limit the impact on politically sensitive net migration numbers . Brussels has been pushing for a higher cap to maximise the opportunity for young Europeans to travel to Britain.

The Sunday Times reported that the UK Government has increased the annual cap it is prepared to offer from 50,000 to between 75,000 and 80,000. However, the EU is pushing for 100,000 a year to be able to stay in the UK for up to three years. A senior diplomat from an EU country told The i Paper : “We needed to make sure that every EU member state would get a fair share of this cake.” A UK source familiar with negotiations said a compromise below 100,000 is on the cards, but that the figure will likely move closer towards the EU’s target before 20 November.

The source joked that the UK Government would take a similar approach to when football manager Brian Clough paid a record transfer to bring forward Trevor Francis to Nottingham Forest in 1979. “We will probably end up with a number near 99,999 visas,” they said. “Like when Brian Clough famously bought Trevor Francis, and he didn’t want him to be the first £1m-pound player, so he paid 999,999 quid for him. “It’s psychologically important not to go over 100,000 visas.”

Beyond the battle over numbers, the other sticking point to a youth mobility deal has been university tuition fees, with Brussels arguing that EU students should pay the same fees as domestic students to study at British institutions, but the UK Government is pushing for a higher figure because of concerns over university finances . The European Commission has paused the demand for cheaper fees until after the summit, with an expectation that a deal will be formalised next year giving EU students significantly reduced fees, though still higher than the amount British students pay.

Andy Burnham is planning to use this month’s summit as a staging post in his plan to move Britain towards a new long-term relationship with Europe, with a possible full return to the bloc not ruled out. It comes as the former chancellor, Rachel Reeves, threw her support behind Burnham’s decision to explore moving closer to Brussels – saying she backed rejoining the EU. The intervention is significant as Reeves helped write Labour’s 2024 manifesto, which ruled out a return to EU membership.

Writing for T he Sunday Times , she said: “I do believe Britain’s future lies in the European Union. “ Reeves said it was “incumbent on supporters of our re-entry to make the argument, demonstrate tangible benefits and to get the next steps right – especially ahead of the UK-EU summit later this month”. She added that she hoped a youth mobility scheme would be confirmed at the meeting. It has also emerged that Reeves’s former chief of staff, Ben Nunn, has joined No 10 to work on the relationship with the EU.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch criticised the intervention, telling the BBC she “can’t even believe we are reopening” the Brexit debate. She added: “We are having yet another Westminster bubble argument about the EU when it is time for us to actually start using the opportunities, fix mistakes that have been made and go into the future.”