Brussels’ bid to secure a free movement deal between the European Union (EU) and the UK sparked a huge row on GB News.
The People’s Channel star Martin Daubney locked horns with Sir Nick Harvey from the European Movement on the matter as Sir Keir Starmer seeks a post-Brexit reset with Brussels.
According to the Independent, the bloc is set to make a youth mobility scheme a key demand for any reset despite the prime minister previously rejecting such a proposition.
Harvey argued this would be a good thing for Britain and its young people, but Martin felt it would mainly serve EU citizens.
Martin Daubney traded a series of verbal blows with Nick Harvey
GB NEWS
“When you look at the number of under-30s that came to the UK between 2016-2019, it was getting on for 900,000 coming to Britain every year”, Martin claimed.
“There’s every reason to believe that if a new scheme came in, it would be more than that. It would be boom time for people to get into the UK.
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Nick Harvey joined Martin Daubney on GB News
GB NEWS
“That would suppress wages for the working classes, it would cut down jobs in hospitality, it would cut down on jobs in building sites and it would certainly up the cost of university for the white, working class in Britain because they are being priced out by these foreign students.
“Great if you’re a big business owner and you want cheap labour, great if you’re a university owner, but if you’re a Brit, you will get stuffed by such a deal.”
“You certainly won’t”, Harvey hit back.
“Between 2016-2019, we had complete freedom of movement. Everyone who wanted to could come here and work. Anyone who wanted to go to Europe could go there and study.
Keir Starmer has previously ruled out such a ploy
PA
“The population of Europe is bigger than the population of the UK, but we want these people to come here.”
Martin said the “electorate don’t agree” with Harvey’s argument, but the former minister argued British youngsters have had their rights “taken away” via Brexit, and this would “get them back”.
“You speak in semantics”, Martin hit back. “Youth mobility is freedom of movement for 18-30s. It’s freedom of movement for a smaller percentile.
“Here’s the rub, if you look at the numbers, 18-30s made up 45-50 per cent of anyone who came into the EU before Brexit because guess what, young people are more mobile, ambitious and want to go away.
“What I’m saying is, it would be 50 per cent more of where we were before and probably more. It would be a disaster for population control. It would be a disaster for the working classes and it would price them out of British universities. Facts.”
The EU has floated the idea of a youth mobility deal before, but it is yet to be formally proposed.
Official documents show the European Council is set to discuss the issue to formalise its negotiating position.
