Asked by The Earl of Clancarty To ask Her Majesty’s
Government what consideration they are giving to the impact of
Brexit on opportunities for young United Kingdom citizens to
travel, work and study within Europe. The Minister of State,
Department for Exiting the European Union (Baroness Anelay of St
Johns) (Con) My Lords, it is...Request free trial
Asked by
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The Minister of State, Department for Exiting the European
Union (Baroness Anelay of St Johns) (Con)
My Lords, it is still too early to say what rules will be
in place for British citizens travelling in the EU after we
leave, including for young people. We are carefully
considering our options and the potential impact they may
have on different categories of people. We will discuss
these arrangements with the EU in due course. At every step
of the negotiations we will work to ensure the best
possible outcome for the British people.
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The (CB)
My Lords, immediate concern in Parliament has rightly been
for EU nationals in the UK and Britons currently abroad,
but what thought has been given to how the loss of rights
to travel, work and study abroad at will would affect
Britons resident here, rights that most young European
citizens will continue to enjoy, allowing them a
significant advantage in chasing up opportunities? What
consideration have the Government given to ensuring that
young people here are maintained on the same level playing
field as their European counterparts, including continuing
participation in Erasmus?
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My Lords, the noble Earl raises a vital question, because
the value of international exchange and collaboration in
education and training is a vital part of our vision for
the UK as a global nation. It is about the future of our
young people. Erasmus, which celebrates its 30th
anniversary this year, is an example of the European
programmes in which we might well want to participate. We
will consider that as part of the negotiation. There are
other schemes, too, in respect of which we need to look
carefully at how we might participate after we leave the
European Union.
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(Con)
Does my noble friend agree that we are unlikely to make
much progress on these matters until we get some resolution
on debt? In that context, will she tell this House the
extent to which the problem is about legality and the
extent to which it is about quantum? If it is about
legality, have we given serious consideration to
arbitration? If it is about quantum, have we given serious
consideration to mediation?
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My Lords, regarding debt, I assume that my noble friend is
not harking back to the previous Question but looking
forward to the negotiations on the liabilities the EU owes
to this country—and we recognise there will be duties that
we owe to the EU, whether they be based in law or indeed
morally. A lot of thought has been given to this issue and
I have answered questions on it recently. About 10 days
ago, the UK negotiators gave a three-and-a-half hour
presentation to the EU negotiators, examining each and
every part of the directives and treaties the EU put
forward as a list of references, without explaining their
application to the UK’s liability. So we are deeply
involved in examining wherein lay the duties, each way, to
each other.
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(LD)
My Lords, the European Social Fund gives adults
opportunities to learn—often, people who are less likely to
go into further or higher education or benefit from the
Erasmus scheme. Does the Minister agree that the
Government’s proposed shared prosperity fund should be used
to replace money such as the European Social Fund to ensure
that such opportunities for learning will continue?
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The noble Baroness makes an important and interesting
point, and I shall certainly take it back. We need to look
over the whole range of activity which encompasses youth
training and learning. As the noble Baroness was speaking,
I was reminded of the youth mobility scheme, which allows
young people aged 18 to 30 from participating countries and
territories to learn how to live and work in other
societies.
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(Lab)
My Lords, the noble Earl is far too young, and the noble
Baroness the Minister is certainly too young, to remember
that before we joined the European Union, young UK citizens
travelled, studied and worked with great freedom across
Europe west of the Iron Curtain. Can she confirm that you
do not have to be a member of the EU to participate in the
Erasmus programme? Does she agree that the graduates of our
excellent universities will continue to be very much
welcomed by employers in Europe? Is there any reason to
suppose that young people will not in future have the same
wonderful opportunities in Europe as they have had in the
past?
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The noble Lord is absolutely right. Also, the youth
mobility scheme and Horizon 2020 are open to countries that
are not members of the EU; it depends on the negotiations
between the EU and that third country. The most important
thing is that all of us are looking to ensure that the
future of our young people can be as rich an experience as
it has been in the past.
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(Con)
My Lords, notwithstanding what the noble Lord, Lord
Howarth, has just said, does my noble friend agree that it
would be extremely sad, to put it mildly, if young people
from all the countries of Europe found it more difficult to
travel and work around the continent than those who came
over in the Middle Ages to help build Lincoln and the other
great cathedrals? If that stage were reached, we would have
not a hard Brexit or a soft Brexit but a barren Brexit.
That would be the worst of all.
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My Lords, I taught history several lifetimes ago, and I
know that we were not always the most welcoming of
countries. I hope we have learned that it is better to
welcome than to prevent people coming from countries for
the wrong reasons. Clearly, it is important to have a legal
basis to control immigration, but it is important to
recognise that we have a way of welcoming people that
enriches our society. Certainly, as we have announced
already, for those who wish to take up Erasmus,
applications will continue as normal in 2017-18, and:
“The Government will underwrite the payment of such awards,
even when specific projects continue beyond the UK’s
departure from the EU.”
That shows a welcoming spirit.
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of Kentish Town
(Lab)
My Lords, will the Minister apologise to young people for the
fact that, when she was Chief Whip, she got her Government to
refuse our amendment allowing 16 and 17 year-olds to vote in
the referendum? It matters: those are the young people whose
futures we are discussing. Furthermore, can she tell us why
none of the seven position papers the Government have
produced so far make any mention of young people? Will there
be something in the Government’s thinking about them?
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When we talk about young people in this House, it can be
something of an elastic term. But in all seriousness, young
people, however we define them, have as much right as those
of all ages to believe there is a global future for them
beyond the European Union, and we are taking that very
seriously. The noble Baroness goes back into history on the
referendum Act. We discussed that amendment on not one but
several occasions, and it would wrong for me to encapsulate
it in just a brief time at Questions.
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