A leading Tory Brexiter has called on ministers to reopen the UK’s borders to tens of thousands of young workers from EU nations in order to tackle acute post-Brexit labour shortages that he says are driving up inflation.
In an extraordinary admission of the failures of immigration policy since the UK left the EU, former Tory environment secretary George Eustice said Rishi Sunak’s government should begin bilateral negotiations with EU nations immediately, with a view to offering young Europeans under 35 the right to two- year visas to work in this country.
Eustice, who was secretary of state for the environment, food and rural affairs under Boris Johnson, said the deals should be reciprocal so that young UK citizens under 35 would be able to live and work for two years in the same EU member states with which deals were struck. This, he said, would be part of a much-needed “post-Brexit reconciliation” with our European neighbours. » | Toby Helm, Political Editor, and Jon Henley | Saturday, July 8, 2023
What we need is no fancy visa scheme, but to rejoin the EU. We should never have left it in the first place. The British electorate were lied to by Brexiteers; so they were duped into voting for a hare-brained idea. Brexiteers are now beginning to see just how silly their idea of leaving the Union was. As the old saying goes: ‘You never miss the water till the well runs dry!’ – © Mark Alexander
