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UK ‘will not be defined by the past' amid speculation on EU youth visa scheme

UK ‘will not be defined by the past' amid speculation on EU youth visa scheme

The UK 'will not be defined by the debates and arguments of the past', Downing Street has said amid speculation about a possible youth mobility deal with the EU.
The Government has faced pressure from backbench MPs to agree a youth mobility scheme as part of its 'reset' in UK-EU relations.
Ministers have previously said they have 'no plans' for such a scheme, but more recently appear to have softened their stance on youth visas.
Asked whether a youth mobility scheme was on the table on Friday, a Number 10 spokesman said he would not 'get into the detail of the discussion that is taking place'.
He said: 'Both sides are discussing a wide range of issues, which is entirely normal for any negotiation.
'I don't think we could have been clearer that this is not about returning to the EU, but we will not be defined by the debates and arguments of the past.'
Questions about a youth mobility scheme come as The Times reported the Home Office was considering a 'one in, one out' arrangement to ensure a cap on the number of visas.
Similar youth mobility schemes between the UK and countries including Australia and Canada place a limit on the number of visas that can be issued and restrict those visas to two years.
Earlier, Environment Secretary Steve Reed dismissed The Times's report as 'speculation', telling Times Radio: 'We've very clear in our manifesto that there won't be any return to the single market, the customs union or freedom of movement, and that remains our position.'
He also said that it is 'right' to say there are no plans for a youth mobility scheme, adding: 'We're not going to breach our manifesto commitments.'
Labour's 2024 general election manifesto said there would be 'no return to the single market, the customs union, or freedom of movement'.
Ministers have so far resisted calls for a youth mobility scheme, but it is thought that it is something the EU is looking for as Number 10 pursues a 'reset' in relations after Brexit.
German ambassador to the UK Miguel Berger told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that 'we would like to have this in both directions'.
Earlier this week, more than 60 Labour backbenchers urged the Government to negotiate a youth mobility scheme as part of the desired reset with the bloc.
In a letter to Nick Thomas-Symonds, the minister in charge of negotiations with the EU, 62 MPs and 11 peers called for 'a new and bespoke youth visa scheme' for UK and European citizens under 30.
In their letter, the MPs and peers said any youth mobility scheme should be in line with the UK's existing arrangements with countries such as Australia and Canada, with a time limit on visas and a cap on numbers.
They said: 'A bespoke scheme would extend new cultural, educational and economic opportunities to young people in the UK without returning to free movement.'
The group also called for deeper collaboration with the EU on defence and a deal on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures to reduce border checks on food products, both of which are in line with Government policy, among other suggestions.

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EXCLUSIVE Revealed: The new Reform chairman who used to be a TV presenter. ANDREW PIERCE lifts the lid
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EXCLUSIVE Revealed: The new Reform chairman who used to be a TV presenter. ANDREW PIERCE lifts the lid

A television presenter who made his name fronting a popular show about ghosts and the paranormal is to be unveiled tomorrow as Reform's new boss, the Mail can reveal. Dr David Bull, 56, who backs 'binning the burka', will replace Zia Yusuf whose resignation as chairman last Thursday threatened to plunge Nigel Farage 's party into chaos. The new chairman is a former hospital doctor who moved into broadcasting shortly after he qualified at London 's St Mary's Medical Hospital School in 1993. His most prominent presenting role was on paranormal reality TV show Most Haunted Live!. The openly gay Dr Bull, 56, follows the Scottish born Yusuf, 38, who is the son of Sri Lankan Muslims. 'I think we are ticking the right diversity boxes,' joked one senior Reform figure today. Last week, Yusuf, a multi-millionaire businessman, provoked uproar when he criticised Reform's newest MP Sarah Pochin for calling for a burka ban in the Commons at Prime Minister's Questions. The next day Yusuf, 38, unexpectedly quit to the relief of many of his senior colleagues who found him difficult to work with. Unlike Yusuf, the new Reform chairman is an advocate of banning the burka, which he regards as an 'anti-British symbol'. Farage hopes the Bull appointment will calm the frayed nerves of many party members coming, as it does, just three months after the resignation of the Reform MP Rupert Lowe. He quit in protest at Farage's 'dictatorial' style of leadership. When Yusuf resigned on Thursday he said he no longer believed that working for Reform to win power at the next election was 'a good use of my time'. Many Reform senior figures feared he would deliver a devastating post-resignation interview but, in a bizarre twist, he instead announced on Saturday he was rejoining Reform only 48 hours after he quit. He is being put in charge of Reform's 'Doge' team, which is modelled on the Department of Government Efficiency set up by US President Trump in the US. Asked today why he had resigned as chairman, Yusuf told the BBC: 'I've been working pretty much non-stop, virtually no days off. It is very difficult to keep going at that pace.' Yusuf alienated many party members with his abrupt manner and controlling style of management. Arron Banks, a founder of Leave EU who is a close friend of Mr Farage, said that Yusuf was a 'control freak' who was 'prone to changing his mind frequently'. One party source said: 'Yusuf's new role will keep him out of party HQ as he will be visiting the county councils which we now run across the country to try to cut out waste. It will be a better use of his talents and energies.' There had been speculation that Ann Widdecombe, 77, the redoubtable former Tory prisons minister who defected to Mr Farage's side in 2019, would be the new chairman. 'It's not Widdecombe even though she is very highly regarded,' said a source. Dr Bull, who is a presenter on the Rupert Murdoch channel Talk, is not wealthy like Yusuf, who netted £30 million from the sale of an upmarket concierge firm. Briefly a Brexit Party MEP, he is described by colleagues as collegiate and a team player. Before joining Farage's Brexit Party, Dr Bull was the Tory parliamentary candidate for Brighton Pavilion when David Cameron was party leader. But he stood down in 2009 and headed up a policy review on sexual health. He published his first book, Cool And Celibate?: Sex And No Sex, arguing the benefits of abstinence for teenagers. A former anchor of the BBC current affairs programme Newsround, he presented Most Haunted Live! between 2002 and 2005. A Reform source said: ''He looks and sounds good and he's been out and proud for years so we have no worries about any skeletons in his closet.'

What does the change to the winter fuel payment mean?
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What does the change to the winter fuel payment mean?

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FTSE 100 dips while markets watch for US-China talks progress
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FTSE 100 dips while markets watch for US-China talks progress

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