EU may be set to offer UK deal to test resolve over 'reset'

The European Union is reportedly preparing to offer the United Kingdom a new deal allowing a limited freedom of movement between the 27-member bloc and the country as a test of the Labour Party government's much-vaunted "reset" of relations with Brussels.

Since taking over as prime minister in July, Keir Starmer has sought to have closer personal and political ties with European leaders than his predecessor, the Conservative Party's Rishi Sunak.

But while talking up having a better relationship, his government has yet to show much flexibility when it comes to trying negotiate a closer partnership.

The Guardian newspaper reports that European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen is to rework a proposal about freedom of movement for people between the ages of 18 and 30 that was put to and rejected by the Conservative Party government earlier in the year.

Off the record, European officials have suggested that a second rebuttal could lessen the likelihood of progress being made in negotiations over issues such as agriculture policy.

An unnamed EU diplomat told the paper that the most important thing in understanding relations between the two sides is "we are much less concerned with the UK than the UK is with the EU … there is absolutely room for improvement in the relationship but the biggest pain has been removed and the UK is not top of the agenda. If Keir Starmer wants us to come to the table, don't expect us to drop everything to have that conversation".

When the proposal was first put forward in April, although the need for set-length visas meant it was not a return to full freedom of movement, it offered EU and UK citizens of qualifying age the opportunity to stay in each other's countries for up to four years, and also included proposals to make overseas study more affordable.

"There are certainly topics where we can have closer collaboration," said von der Leyen. "And the topic of youth mobility is in both our interests because the more we have youth mobility being on both sides of the channel, the more we increase the probability we will be on good terms because the next generation knows each other very well."

On a visit to Berlin in August, Starmer reiterated the Labour Party election manifesto promise that it would not reverse Brexit or rejoin the single market or the customs union. But he said his government did want "a closer relationship on a number of fronts".

The British Social Attitudes survey, carried out by the National Centre for Social Research and published in June this year, before the election, showed just a quarter of people believed the UK should be outside the EU, down from 41 percent in 2016, and 71 percent thought Brexit had damaged the economy.

A study published this month by Aston University Business School revealed the value of UK goods exported to the EU was 27 percent lower, and imported goods 32 percent lower, than would have been the case without Brexit, and 1,645 fewer types of British products were being sent to every EU country.