London’s Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has advocated for a mobility agreement with the European Union (EU) to allow young people to move more freely in one of the most pro-European interventions by Labour since Brexit.
Khan proposed either a new programme allowing young people to freely travel to and from EU countries or a change to post-Brexit rules to lessen the economic and cultural damage caused by the UK’s decision to leave the EU.
The majority of young people affected by Brexit were not able to vote in the 2016 referendum, yet are now found to be the population group hardest hit by the outcome. He added that this is especially the case in the capital, London. "The government’s hard-line stance on Brexit has caused damage across London, with its young people hit hardest in many ways," he said in an interview with the Observer this weekend.
"Not only is it now more difficult for young people to relocate abroad for work, but the government’s unwise decision to leave the Erasmus programme has complicated students’ access to study abroad," Khan argued.
He added that he would support a youth mobility programme – this would apply to Londoners wanting to go to EU countries and young EU citizens wanting to come to London – and punctuated his point by asserting that "while the UK is no longer part of the EU, London is and will always be a European city".
Appealing to anti-Brexit voters
While not advocating rejoining the EU, Khan also argued that the idea of rejoining the customs union should be on the table for the Brexit agreement’s reassessment. He has in the past called for a "pragmatic debate" on whether the UK should rejoin the single market and customs union when the terms of the Brexit deal come up for discussion again in 2025.
This marks one of the most pro-European interventions by a senior Labour politician since the 2016 referendum. His remarks suggest Labour, under Khan, will be running a strongly pro-European, anti-Brexit campaign for the mayoral elections in the capital in May, in which Khan is aiming for a third four-year term.
Khan’s main challenger in the mayoral elections in London will likely be rightwing Conservative and strongly pro-Brexit candidate Susan Hall. The majority of voters in London are believed to be anti-Brexit and Khan is seemingly looking to appeal to them.
Recent polls have shown that the opinion that Brexit is a failure and growing support for closer ties with the EU is not only a London phenomenon.
