Since leaving the EU and despite several guarantees to the contrary, this year UK students lose the right to study abroad under the ERASMUS scheme.
Today, the Rejoin EU Party is launching a signature campaign in partnership with ActionStorm aimed at getting government to re-think this unnecessary & mean-spirited move, not least because it has absolutely nothing to do with the UK’s membership of the EU.
The petition can be found at
Party leader Richard Hewison said: “ERASMUS has nothing to do with membership of the EU. Indeed, the UK government guaranteed our continued membership of the scheme in early 2020, only to do a complete U-turn at the end of the year.
“Even if the 2016 vote had been about ERASMUS, nobody currently under the age of 24 was given any say in the matter and these are the people who have had their rights to a full education taken away.”
Party chairman Andrew Smith added: “Since 1987, more than 3.3 million students have benefited from the educational, cultural & linguistic benefits of studying in other countries & languages across the EU. Every year, approximately 16,000 UK students were part of this.
“Anecdotal evidence from participants show this is almost always a life-changing experience, giving people a broader perspective on the world and leading to them interacting with groups they would often not come into contact with otherwise. It would be a tragedy and frankly a scandal if future generations were denied that opportunity.”
Removing the opportunities of ERASMUS plus for our young people isxa shameful act.