The Liberal Democrats election manifesto published today includes pledges to agree a Youth Mobility Scheme with the EU in their manifesto and to bring the UK back into the EU Customs Union and Single Market.
At their manifesto launch event today, Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey said, "long term we need to be back in the heart of Europe, but we aren't going to pretend that is going to be easy"
Leaving the Single Market and Customs Union has introduced new red tape for British businesses, putting them at a disadvantage to EU-based firms and increasing costs for consumers.
Meanwhile, ending freedom of movement has removed opportunities for young Brits and has increased labour shortage particularly for the UK hospitality and farming sectors.
Best for Britain is campaigning both for a Youth Mobility Scheme and to simplify EU-UK trade via the 114 recommendations published by UK Trade and Business Commission in May 2023. These recommendations were informed by more than 80hrs of live testimony featuring 234 witnesses and written evidence from more than 200 organisations.
The recommendations were then endorsed by business leaders at the Trade Unlocked Conference in Birmingham last year.
Naomi Smith, CEO of Best for Britain and founder of tactical voting website, GetVoting.org said,
“Our polling shows a closer relationship with Europe is backed by a majority of voters while 7 in 10 are in favour of a reciprocal EU-UK Youth Mobility Scheme that will give opportunities back to young Brits and help businesses struggling with labour shortages.
“Voters want it, businesses need it and we want all parties to get on with it.”