On same day Trump lands, Starmer’s EU minister agrees to take in EU’s young unemployed, and 1.2m ‘inactive young Brits’ data is released
More bad news buried as Starmer’s EU Minister gives green light to immigration of EU’s young unemployed
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2025
Why doesn’t he start by helping the 1.2 million British young who are ‘economically inactive’?
Facts4EU reveals latest shocking numbers of Britain’s young who are doing nothing
In Bruges on Tuesday while all eyes were on the arrival of President Trump, Sir Keir Starmer’s arch-Rejoiner Minister for EU relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds, effectively linked Starmer’s EU trade reset with the UK joining the EU’s defence programme, as well as agreeing to the ‘Youth Experience Scheme’ and the hugely expensive Erasmus+ project.
Unfortunately for Starmer’s EU Minister, he didn’t know the ONS were releasing its latest data for the UK’s appalling ‘economically inactive young Brits’ data. Fortunately for the public, Facts4EU did know this.
‘Open borders’ scheme into the UK for the EU’s under-30s is being negotiated
Once again it seems that the EU has succeeded in making a few small concessions the UK wants, conditional on the UK agreeing to a raft of wholly unconnected matters which the EU wants.
The Prime Minister has already agreed to give the EU access to the UK’s sovereign waters for a further 12 years – and received nothing in return.
Now it seems from the UK Minister’s speech that the Government is set to agree to take in many hundreds of thousands of the EU’s unemployed under-30s. On top of that, it appears that the UK will indeed participate in the EU’s multi-billion-euro defence equipment programme, which will require a £1bn+ payment from the UK purely to give UK firms the opportunity to bid for EU defence work, but with no guarantees of winning any contracts.
This is not the kind of Bruges speech Lady Thatcher gave all those years ago
The Government’s acquiescence to the EU’s demands came obliquely and apparently innocuously, as they so often do. For seasoned observers of such things, however, the seemingly innocent remarks carried a much more sinister meaning.
The occasion was a speech at the ‘College of Europe’ in Bruges on Tuesday (16 Sept 2025) where the Minister for EU Relations Nick Thomas-Symonds said the following:
“Working together to overcome trade barriers, meet our common security challenges, and strengthen our shared defences to stand up to international aggression. All underpinned by a commitment to find new opportunities for young people in the UK and the EU from a youth experience scheme, offering young people the chance to work, live and study abroad to working towards rejoining the Erasmus Plus Programme.”
- Nick Thomas-Symonds, Minister for EU Relations, College of Europe, Bruges, 16 Sept 2025
Photo clipped from College of Europe Instagram video - click to watch
In the above, ‘trade barriers’ refers to the EU’s ‘SPS agri-food’ scheme, which the Government has already agreed to and which overwhelmingly benefits EU farmers. ‘Strengthening our shared defences’ refers to the EU’s vastly expensive SAFE defence equipment programme, which overwhelmingly benefits French and German arms manufacturers. In this report, however, we focus on the latter commitment – free movement for the EU’s young unemployed.
Before taking in the EU’s young unemployed, what about first helping our own?
Facts4EU has previously reported on the deeply worrying numbers of young people who are not only unemployed and not in education or in any training schemes, (the so-called “NEETs”), but who are not even looking for work. In other words, they are what the statisticians refer to as “inactive”.
In today’s report we look slightly wider. The ‘NEETs’ classification conveniently excludes young people aged 16 to 24 years who are in only part-time education. The ‘NEETs’ numbers can therefore exclude a young person who enrols in some local community college - or even a mosque or synagogue or other institution - to study ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’, or ‘Palestinian peace and Israeli occupation’, for five hours a week.
A better classification for ‘economically inactive’ – and it comes from the Office for National Statistics
Fortunately, on the same day that Nick Thomas Symonds got to his feet in Bruges to address the disciples of the EU superstate religion, the UK’s Office for National Statistics published its latest figures for ‘People aged 16 to 24 by educational status, economic activity and inactivity, seasonally adjusted’.
The figures in this set of data look only at those in employment or registered unemployed, and not in full-time education.
They include those in only part-time education as being ‘economically inactive’, which seems to be a more reasonable measure.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
1.2 million Brits aged 16-24 years are unemployed, not in full-time education, and are ‘economically inactive’
Latest figures, 3 months from May-Jul 2025
- Unemployed, but looking for work : 388,000
- Not employed, not in full-time education, and not looking for work : 802,000
- TOTAL ‘ECONOMICALLY INACTIVE’ : 1,190,000 AGED 16-24
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2025 - click to enlarge
[Source: Office for National Statistics, released Tues 16 Sept 2025.]
Would you miss us in the morning?
We rely wholly on patriotic members of the public to survive. Without more donations our future looks bleak.
Any credit card user
Quick One-off
From £5 - £1,000
Monthly
From £3 per month
Paypal Users Only - Choose amount first
Quick One-off
Monthly
Don't leave this to someone else. You are that 'someone else'.
What the Government told us
Last year Brexit Facts4EU.Org contacted both the Dept for Education (DES) and the Dept of Work and Pensions (DWP). Our contacts were as helpful as they could be and they fully accepted that the issue we have raised above is a problem, “And it’s one the Government is taking very seriously.” Both departments admitted that the NEETs problem lies between the responsibilities of each.
In answer to our main question, neither of the Departments had any information on what this group of more than 800,000 young people (out of the 1.2 million), who aren’t even looking for work, are doing.
To those who are inclined to be generous and who will say that most of the 800,000 must be studying part-time, we know this is not correct. The last time the ONS published figures on those in part-time education, they amounted to just 237,000. And, as we have pointed out above, ‘part-time education’ can be very part-time indeed.
Two years ago the then Work and Pensions Secretary, the Rt Hon Liz Kendall, talked about the Government's ‘Back to Work Plan’, saying :
“Economic inactivity is holding Britain back – it’s bad for people, it’s bad for businesses, and it’s bad for growth.
It’s not good enough that the UK is the only G7 country with employment not back to pre-pandemic levels.”
“It is time for change in every corner of the country. We’ll create more good jobs, make work pay, transform skills, and overhaul jobcentres, alongside action to tackle the root causes of worklessness [sic] including poor physical and mental health. Change delivered by local areas for local people, driving growth and delivering opportunity and prosperity to everyone, wherever they live.”
Observations
1.2 million young Britons aged 16 to 24 years-old represents an amazing pool of potential talent, completely unused by the country. It is very troubling that this number looks set to rise, as the Government’s new employment laws are beginning to bite. Employers have already said they are cutting back on recruitment and the data confirms this. With the new employment laws soon to come, this will exacerbate the situation further.
What is even more concerning is that nothing appears to have been done to identify the 800,000 who are not working, not looking for work, and not in full-time education.
On top of this, we have Sir Keir Starmer’s Minister for EU Relations delivering a very chatty and positive Bruges speech on the same day the appalling new figures were released, apparently moving ahead with the EU’s demands to allow many hundreds of thousands of their unemployed under-30s to enter the UK for four years (renewable of course).
Would it not be better to tell the EU “Not for the moment, thanks. We have to put our own house in order first.”?
The UK a sovereign nation?
In his speech on Tuesday, Nick Thomas-Symonds referred rather disparagingly to those of us who interpret sovereignty in its conventional sense. We would simply say to him that one of the tenets of being a sovereign nation is its ability to control its own borders. A new 'open borders for the under-30s (possibly under-35s)' policy inflicted on the UK by the EU is one more nail in the coffin of the idea of the United Kingdom as a sovereign nation.
Please, please help us to carry on our vital work in defence of independence, sovereignty, democracy and freedom by donating today. Thank you.
[ Sources: Office for National Statistics | Government news dept | College of Europe, Bruges ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thurs 18 Sept 2025
Click here to go to our news headlines
Please scroll down to COMMENT on the above article.
And don't forget actually to post your message after you have previewed it!
Since before the EU Referendum, Brexit Facts4EU.Org
has been the most prolific researcher and publisher of Brexit facts in the world.
Supported by MPs, MEPs, & other groups, our work has impact.
We think facts matter. Please donate today, so that we can continue to ensure a clean Brexit is finally delivered.
Any credit card user
Quick One-off
From £5 - £1,000
Monthly
From £3 per month
Paypal Users Only - Choose amount first
Quick One-off
Monthly
Something to say about this? Scroll down for reader comments