Saturday, December 26, 2020
Brexit deal will penalise young people
There are a lot of issues with Boris Johnson's Brexit deal, many of which have not even been aired yet as people work through its 1200 pages, but what is obvious so far is that red tape for businesses will increase, the so-called 'hard-won gains' will prove largely illusory, the service sector in particular will suffer from being overlooked, we will be less secure as a country, people's ability to travel in Europe will be curtailed, fisheries have been sold down the river, the deal is nowhere near as good as we have now, and some key European programmes will be discontinued.
One of these programmes is Erasmus, which is a Europe-wide student exchange scheme and one of the big successes of the European Union. Back in January of this year the Prime Minister promised that this scheme would be saved, however he has now jettisoned it, to be replaced by a new scheme named after the British computing pioneer Alan Turing and which we are told will be world-wide.
So far we have no details of this new scheme, leaving students high and dry, but what seems certain is that the so-called world-wide emphasis is designed to weaken links between the UK and Europe as we strive to cut ourselves off from any proper international links.
The Guardian says the omission of Erasmus from the UK-EU deal ends a scheme that had offered student exchanges as well as school links, work experience and apprenticeships across Europe since 1987. Under the latest version of the scheme, Erasmus+, around 200,000 people have taken part including around 15,000 British university students each year. As Lord Mayor of Swansea I saw the value of this scheme in the links it fostered with our twin town of Mannheim, Those links may now be lost.
Ironically the Tories ended this scheme as they believed it cost the UK too much money. However, in doing so they failed to account for the loss of real cash benefits to the higher education sector in particular, which are unlikely to be replaced. The new scheme is not expected to fund students coming to the UK, as Erasmus does now, which suggests British universities will miss out on a source of income. A report earlier this year said ending Erasmus membership would cost the UK more than £200m a year.
This is another short-sighted decision that will diminish our standing in the world.
One of these programmes is Erasmus, which is a Europe-wide student exchange scheme and one of the big successes of the European Union. Back in January of this year the Prime Minister promised that this scheme would be saved, however he has now jettisoned it, to be replaced by a new scheme named after the British computing pioneer Alan Turing and which we are told will be world-wide.
So far we have no details of this new scheme, leaving students high and dry, but what seems certain is that the so-called world-wide emphasis is designed to weaken links between the UK and Europe as we strive to cut ourselves off from any proper international links.
The Guardian says the omission of Erasmus from the UK-EU deal ends a scheme that had offered student exchanges as well as school links, work experience and apprenticeships across Europe since 1987. Under the latest version of the scheme, Erasmus+, around 200,000 people have taken part including around 15,000 British university students each year. As Lord Mayor of Swansea I saw the value of this scheme in the links it fostered with our twin town of Mannheim, Those links may now be lost.
Ironically the Tories ended this scheme as they believed it cost the UK too much money. However, in doing so they failed to account for the loss of real cash benefits to the higher education sector in particular, which are unlikely to be replaced. The new scheme is not expected to fund students coming to the UK, as Erasmus does now, which suggests British universities will miss out on a source of income. A report earlier this year said ending Erasmus membership would cost the UK more than £200m a year.
This is another short-sighted decision that will diminish our standing in the world.
