With damage of Brexit clear, it’s high time we restored as many links as possible with Europe - Angus Robertson

Europe Month has officially been launched in Scotland by the EU Ambassador Pedro Serrano. In the weeks up until Europe Day on May 9 events are taking place the length and breadth of the country to highlight the importance of European co-operation and friendship.

Angus Robertson, centre with EU Ambassador to the UK Pedro Serrano, second right, at the opening of In Short Europe: The European Short Film Festival

Together with Ambassador Serrano I spoke at the opening of In Short Europe: The European Short Film Festival, which celebrates the best of cultural cooperation. Earlier the ambassador met with civic leaders about the valued contribution of European Union citizens in Scotland.

With the damage of Brexit clear for everyone to see, it is high time to restore as many links as possible with Europe. This is already happening with the Horizon programme of research cooperation and should also happen with Erasmus+ education exchange and Culture Europe for the arts sector.

That is why the recent initiative by the European Commission for youth exchange between the UK and EU was hugely welcome. “The more we have young people being on both sides of the Channel, the more we increase the possibility and probability that we will be on good terms because the next generation knows each other very well,” Ursula von der Leyen, commission president, rightly said in Brussels.

As someone who has lived on the continent myself, I know the value of international relationships in promoting understanding, cooperation, and friendship. I am utterly convinced that anyone who has had the opportunity to live and work abroad will feel the same. It is unfailingly an enriching experience.

To some extent, the UK Government recognises this. We have youth mobility schemes in 13 countries, including Australia and New Zealand.

Yet, Tories true to their Brexiteering obsession, have rejected the youth mobility proposal. Their jingoistic, immature, and self-defeating approach to relations with our nearest neighbour – and the world’s largest single market – has been consistent since the Brexit vote. It is anti-Europe prejudice.

I simply cannot fathom, however, why the Labour Party would play along with this betrayal of young people. A Labour spokesperson said the proposals were “synonymous with freedom of movement”.

Explicitly, the EU Commission said the proposals were a “limited arrangement, not a restoration of free movement”. Its rejection by Labour is blatant obfuscation and disingenuousness from Keir Starmer’s party.

People care about this. Indeed, SNP campaigners were out on Sunday in Tollcross, and this issue was raised several times by constituents.

Let’s take the politics out of this and strip it back to first principles. The international bodies we have created – whether the European Union or United Nations – were set up in response to conflicts that broke the world apart. These conflicts taught us the damage of war and the value of peace. International exchange has always been a key part of ensuring these learnings are passed on to the next generation.

In a time when we see war in Europe and tragic conflict in the Middle East, it is a moral outrage that Labour and the Tories won’t embrace this opportunity for young people.