Fresh Labour splits emerge over Sadiq Khan’s Brexit stance

Labour splits on Brexit have reopened as the party rejected Sadiq Khan’s call to allow young people to travel freely to and from the EU because it would drive up immigration.

The London Mayor used a speech at the weekend to call for a youth mobility agreement with the European Union and said the UK should consider rejoining the customs union.

The London Mayor supports either a bespoke new scheme to allow young people to move freely to and from European countries or changes to post-Brexit visa rules.

He criticised the Tory Government’s “extreme hard Brexit” and even appeared to hit out at Labour’s “omerta”, or pact of silence, preventing the party from discussing potential economic reintegration with Brussels.

But a Labour spokeswoman said the call for a youth mobility scheme was “Sadiq’s view” and not policy backed by leader Sir Keir Starmer.

“He’s doing a great job as London mayor but this is not Labour policy and of course immigration isn’t ever a devolved policy area.

“There has already been a big increase in young people coming to the UK to study over the last few years alongside a big increase in work migration because of the Tories failure to tackle skills shortages.

“Labour believes that net migration needs to come down from its record high levels.”

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Mr Khan, who is seeking a third term in May’s mayoral election, also said re-entering the customs union, which would ease trade with Europe, should be on the table when the Brexit deal with the EU comes up for review in 2024.

But a spokeswoman ruled this out.

“Labour is focused on facing the future, and making Brexit work – we absolutely will not rejoin the EU, the single market or the customs union,” she said.

“Making Brexit work means improving on the botched deal with a stronger collaborative relationship with our neighbours.”