Creating a Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) with the EU could “ease labour shortages” and “help to safeguard our tourism sector’s future vitality”, MPs were told yesterday.
James MacCleary, the Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes and his party’s Europe spokesman, told the House of Commons: “The immense damage caused by the Conservatives’ botched Brexit deal is clear for all to see.
“Few thought that young people would be able to go for two years to live and work all the way over in Japan but not be able to hop across the channel to do the same in France.
“I am not sure that anyone voted for that kind of increased bureaucracy back in 2016.”
MacCleary cited Abta research on Wednesday (January 16) as he put forward a proposal for those aged 18-30 to live and work in Europe.
He told MPs about the impact of Brexit on the UK’s £82.5 billion tourism sector.
“Abta, a trade body representing the sector, reported a 69% drop in UK nationals working in European tourism roles in the five years after the EU referendum,” he said.
“Businesses that once offered transformative opportunities to young Britons now face rising costs and critical staffing shortages.”
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He cited the case of one UK-based tourism company that once employed more than 400 young Britons a year.
“Mobility restrictions have forced it to drastically scale back its operations, undermining years of competitive advantage, and slashing training and employment opportunities for young UK workers,” he said.
“A youth mobility scheme, which recent polling shows is backed by a clear majority of British voters, could ease labour shortages, provide essential career pathways and help to safeguard our tourism sector’s future vitality.”
Abta’s public affairs team had provided MacCleary with data and case studies earlier in the week ahead of his Ten-Minute Rule Motion on expanding the YMS to the EU.
The association has been lobbying the government to expand the existing YMS – which includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Monaco and Hong Kong – to the EU.
Luke Petherbridge, public affairs director at Abta, commented on the “staggering drop” in roles for young Brits in the EU, saying: “That’s obviously a big loss of opportunity for young people from the UK, but with nearly half of all industry leaders, and over a third of all industry workers, having previously worked in similar roles overseas, there is also a serious concern about what this might mean for the future of talent in our industry.
“It was positive to see the case studies and figures we put forward raised in Parliament, and it’s great to see the media also picking this up.
“Abta will continue to raise this important topic over the weeks and months ahead.”
MacCleary said: “This bill gives us the chance to send a different message to a generation of young people who have been denied the opportunities that so many of us in this Chamber took for granted when we were growing up.
“If we wanted to take a job or to study in an EU country, we could just go and do so.
“Opportunity and hope for the future have rarely been in such short supply in this country, and this is how we can provide some of both.”
The bill is scheduled for debate on July 25.
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