Who or what is Keir Starmer frightened of? With July’s landslide victory under his belt, he doesn’t have to face the electorate for another five years. The rightwing media will attack him and Labour irrespective of what he says and does, but he can afford to ignore them. Meanwhile, surveys consistently show that a majority in the UK agree that Brexit has been a disaster. And yet Sir Keir won’t even begin to consider an EU-UK youth mobility scheme that is measurable and controllable, and would be hugely beneficial to the young people who will one day be responsible for this country (EU pushes Keir Starmer to open door to youth mobility scheme as PM heads to Brussels, 1 October).
In the context of overall immigration, the potential numbers would be negligible – the whole point is an exchange, not residence. But as a symbol of the change that Labour claims to embody, and as an investment in future generations and a refutation of the appalling narrow nationalism that inflicted Brexit on us, agreeing to it would signal the start of the UK returning to open-minded and welcoming dialogue with its nearest neighbours and allies. So what’s stopping Sir Keir?
Don Keller
Harringay, London
