Baroness in Waiting/Government Whip (Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent) (Lab)

My Lords, maybe this was not the Statement to bring some Christmas good will, cheer and unanimity across your Lordships’ House. It is a good thing that my language, I hope, will be both positive for the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, and slightly more circumspect for the noble Earl, Lord Courtown. I thank both noble Lords. We will continue to rehearse these arguments, as we have done for many years since the referendum, as we seek to undertake our reset. A number of important issues have been raised, which I will address in some detail. I will also reflect on Hansard to see which questions I have missed, either intentionally or by accident—never intentionally, as I am being reminded—and will write in due course. I would like to engage with this in a spirit of good will. This is a positive thing we are doing: £500 million of additional investment in our young people in one year. It is something to be celebrated. I will engage in the promise of positivity at this time of year and I view it as my own Hanukkah miracle. I will touch on some of the issues raised. On the UK-EU summit, our manifesto promised to reset our relationships with our European partners to improve our diplomatic, economic and security co-operation following Brexit. Earlier this year we hosted the first annual UK-EU summit, where the Prime Minister and the European Commission President welcomed our new strategic partnership and a landmark deal that is good for bills, borders and jobs. That is what we are seeking to deliver—a partnership that enables us to tackle the shared challenges we face, to boost the prosperity, safety and security of both our peoples, and to help strengthen European-wide defences. I turn to the core of the announcement. We have made good progress on talks with the EU since the summit, working to implement the joint commitments we made in May. I am therefore pleased to inform the House that, yesterday, the UK and the European Commission concluded negotiations for the UK’s association to Erasmus+ from 2027 for one year—with, as I said, £500 million of investment in our young people. Our association to the programme will open up opportunities for learners, educators, youth workers, sports sector professionals and communities of all ages in our education, training, youth and sport sectors, for both the professionals who work in these sectors and, crucially, our young people. Participants can travel to any European Union member state and to several countries outside it, opening doors to tens of thousands of people across the UK, renewing our people ties with Europe and beyond. At the summit, we also agreed to work towards participation in Erasmus+ on the basis that there will be a fair balance between our financial contribution and the number of UK participants receiving funding. We are pleased that the EU has agreed financial terms—a 30% discount in 2027 compared with the default terms in the trade and co-operation agreement. This is a fair balance between our contribution and the benefits of the programme. It has also been agreed that the UK’s participation in the programme will be reviewed 10 months after our association, which will include data on the demand for funding in the UK. Any continued participation will be informed by our experience of association in 2027. The Government will now work quickly to ensure that there is maximum take-up across all sectors and groups and that the benefits of our association to Erasmus+ can be felt. The noble Earl, Lord Courtown, raised an important issue about people’s awareness of the scheme. I live in Stoke-on-Trent, and we must make sure that people from up and down the country are able to access these schemes, so that it is not, as historically it could have been considered, a boost for middle-class children, but is accessible to everyone. Many Members of your Lordships’ House have associations with further education facilities and schools up and down the country; there is a responsibility on each of us to make sure that people are aware of this scheme. I urge all noble Lords to reach out to their communities. The funding streams open in October 2026 and we have time to make sure that people can access this. One of the things I was most delighted to see yesterday was a quotation from the Association of School and College Leaders, which was delighted about this scheme. The Turing scheme has wider international reach since we left Erasmus, though it was not the scheme that we left. I reassure noble Lords that the Turing scheme will be operating as normal next year and that we will continue to learn lessons from it. Any future decisions on Turing will be brought forward to your Lordships’ House in due course. On international fees to the EU, I am not sure that is something that I recognise, but I will reflect on the noble Earl’s exact question and come back to him. On today’s coverage in the Mail and Telegraph, it will not surprise noble Lords that I anticipated such a question. The reality is that the European Union has not yet determined any costings for the next scheme, so nobody recognises the numbers that were in the papers today because no such scheme has been rolled out with any such budget. We have been clear to commit to 2027. We will make sure that it works and proves to be good value for money for the United Kingdom and is of huge value to our young people. We will continue to negotiate with the European Union on next steps. The noble Earl raised the youth experience scheme. As I have made clear in other debates in your Lordships’ House, the Government recognise the value of such schemes. One of the things I find exceptionally difficult when we discuss youth mobility schemes is that the previous Government signed a youth mobility scheme with Uruguay. I do not understand why a youth mobility scheme with the European Union is so contrary to our values that we would not want one. If we can have one with 13 other countries, we can have one with the European Union. On the Labour Party’s red lines in our manifesto, I hate to disappoint the noble Lord but we have been very clear that we are not rejoining the customs union. Our manifesto set out exactly what we were prepared to do in our negotiations. All our negotiations are through the prism of our red lines. We will not be returning to the single market, the customs union or freedom of movement. On whether the UK is becoming a rule-taker, we have made a choice to align in some areas where it makes sense for our national interest. The EU has accepted that there will need to be a number of areas in which we need to retain our own rules as we make alignment going forward. The details of these are all subject to negotiation. We will be involved in forming the regulations that apply to the UK at every stage, and Members of your Lordships’ House will have appropriate scrutiny arrangements in place. I will finish on a positive. The expected financial benefits for our economy from having a closer relationship with the European Union are hugely significant. The SPS and carbon-pricing agreements which we are currently negotiating will add nearly £9 billion a year to the UK economy by 2040. The carbon-pricing deal avoids the risk of UK businesses paying tax to the EU on £7 billion-worth of trade. We are seeking to reset our relationship based on what is best in our national interest as a sovereign country. The European Union is our biggest trade partner and the biggest source of economic growth for this country. We continue to work closely with it, in a spirit of good will at this time of year.