How we might get back to freedom of movement
[Expanded a bit from tweet thread]
1/ It’s obviously hard to say what the thinking is behind Labour’s desire to be seen to want to deal quickly with the EU on trade & security, but hang back on sensible move for mobility of ‘natural persons’. I suspect Labour have not yet fully worked it out, but here’s one possibility.
2/ This is that Lab govt are not only holding back the youth mobility scheme as a bargaining chip, but have something in mind which opens up something approaching freedom of movement to everybody, within the parameters of the existing UK-EU Trace & Cooperation Agreement (April 2021).
3/ Such a move, which could be made operational between the UK and individual member states precisely because it is within the terms of the current agreement, might look something like this…..
4/ Article 140 of the UK-EU T&C Agreement, within the part of the Agreement focused on trade, already allows for flow of workers between the UK & EU, as long as the stay is seen to be temporary and not paid by host country firms. But with the new good will on both sides, these provisions can be interpreted liberally.
5/ First, the notion of “contractual service providers” can be expanded, with this goodwill, to include just about anybody if, for example,the qualification required to do the job was e.g. a transferable health and safety certificate.
6/ Likewise, a wide range of people can count as “independent professionals” for the purposes of a goodwill expansion of the original interpretation.
7/ Of course the current 12 month limit is a sticking point, but it should be remembered that the whole Agreement is up for review in 2026 anyway, and that timeframe might be extended and continuity delivered for early beneficiaries.
8/ And of course there’d need to a work around for the rule that people can’t be paid by a host country company, so an important part of a scheme may be national recruitment agencies (state run or outsourced) who work with firms buying into the scheme to provide arm’s length pay.
9/ But employment by such an agency on some kind of floating contract would allow people to get round the need to have a sponsoring employer before they head of to another country to try their luck, as well as making it possible to keep up social insurance (NI in the UK) and tax payments in their home country (an arrangement may find appealing).
10/ The key thing is that this would, within the current Agreement, allow people to move from EU states without the cost and strife of the Skilled Worker Visa, for example, which requires prior sponsorship and costs hundreds of pounds at least, along with the obvious restriction on lwer paid jobs which are not classified as shortage area in the UK. And of course vice versa for UK citizens.
11/ All in all, it’s clunky, but feels workable if — as I’ve stressed, there is good will on both sides. It could become, if not quite total freedom of movement, a quick, easy, affordable and flexible route to something like it, and for all ages.
12/ And if I can work that through in a shed in Lancashire, then there’ll be plenty of people who know more about the detail of the current Agreement than I do who can work out better routes to decent mobility even before the opportunities the 2026 T&C Agreement will surely bring
13/ I wouldn’t, of course, expect anybody in the Labour govt to acknowledge that potential just yet. I suppose they have their reasons.
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