Lib Dems to let under-35s live, study and work in EU

The Liberal Democrat election manifesto will include a commitment to ensure under-35s can live, study and work in the EU despite Brexit, The Independent can reveal. The party will also accuse the Conservative government of “abandoning young people and our economy”.

- KATE DEVLIN

Ed Davey’s party is battling to win younger, more Labourminded voters in key blue wall seats in the south of England that it believes it can take from the Tories. In April, both Labour and the Conservatives rejected an EU offer to strike a post-Brexit agreement to allow young Britons to make a home in the bloc for up to four years.

The move triggered anger with thousands of voters writing to their MP to demand they accept. The ambitious mobility scheme would have been for the under-thirties, one of the groups most affected by the loss of opportunities to work on the continent in the wake of Brexit.

The Lib Dem manifesto will pledge to reverse that decision and open discussions with the EU. The party also wants to raise the age limit to 35. Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran said: “The Conservatives have abandoned young people and our economy. This is just common sense.”