| Topic: | Not Such Great News | |
| Posted by: | Sue Hammond | |
| Date/Time: | 17/12/25 14:31:00 |
| Thousands of Turkish students could come to UK as Starmer hands EU £570M a YEAR to rejoin Erasmus scheme sparking furious backlash. “Keir Starmer is facing outrage today after agreeing to hand the EU £570million to rejoin the Erasmus student exchange programme. Ministers insisted the deal is 'fair and balanced' despite confirming the eye-watering cost for the first year alone. On an annual basis the sum is double what Boris Johnson rejected as too expensive in 2021. It is equivalent to roughly a fifth of the entire EU funding envelope for Erasmus+, although the government insists a chunk of the money will go on British students' travels and subsequent years are still up for negotiation. Students from Turkiye will be eligible to come to the UK in 2027, as the country is an 'associate' member of the scheme. And Brussels has already signalled it wants to expand the arrangements to cover countries such as Egypt, Algeria and Morocco. When the UK was a member of the scheme previously, far more students came here than went to Europe. Government aides played down the risk of people overstaying visas once they had made it to Britain for courses, which will range from two to 12 months. However, Tories accused the PM of 'exposing Britain to all sorts of risks' as he tries to 'suck up' to the EU. The UK is thought to have pushed for a 50 per cent discount on membership fees, which are calculated on the basis of a country's GDP. However, Sir Keir caved after the EU only offered a 30 per cent reduction of fees in the first year. Extraordinarily, the government has been boasting about achieving this 'discount'. The arrangement will get back up and running in time for the 2027-28 academic year. The government said today: 'The UK contribution for 2027 will be approximately £570million.” https://mol.im/a/15391567 Yay!! Potentially more Algerian and Moroccan sex offenders will be able to come to the UK posing as students … We already have the comprehensive Turing student exchange scheme which was set up in 2021 so why does we need to rejoin the eye-wateringly expensive Erasmus scheme? ‘The Turing scheme is a student exchange programme. It was established by the United Kingdom Department for Education in 2021 as a replacement for the European Union Erasmus Programme. The scheme aims to fund the advantages of overseas learning to three categories of participants, young students at primary and secondary schools, older sixth form students and further education university students.’ |
| Topic | Date Posted | Posted By |
| Some great news, at last. | 17/12/25 11:08:00 | Gerry Boyce |
| Re:Some great news, at last. | 17/12/25 11:41:00 | Ivonne Holliday |
| Reply | 17/12/25 12:10:00 | Michael Ixer |
| Re:Some great news, at last. | 17/12/25 13:41:00 | Gerry Boyce |
| Not Such Great News | 17/12/25 14:31:00 | Sue Hammond |
| Re:Not Such Great News | 17/12/25 15:27:00 | Ivonne Holliday |
| Re:Re:Not Such Great News | 17/12/25 15:48:00 | Sue Hammond |
| Re:Re:Re:Not Such Great News | 17/12/25 16:16:00 | Ivonne Holliday |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Not Such Great News | 18/12/25 14:23:00 | John Hawkes |
| Re:Not Such Great News | 17/12/25 15:44:00 | Gerry Boyce |
| Re:Re:Not Such Great News | 17/12/25 16:05:00 | Sue Hammond |
| Re:Re:Re:Not Such Great News | 17/12/25 16:15:00 | Gerry Boyce |
| Re:Re:Some great news, at last. | 17/12/25 23:31:00 | Ed Robinson |
| Re:Some great news, at last. | 17/12/25 15:17:00 | Philippa Bond |
| Reply | 17/12/25 15:40:00 | Martine Guy |
| Bright prospects it was | 17/12/25 17:37:00 | David Ainsworth |
| Re:Re:Some great news, at last. | 18/12/25 14:39:00 | John Hawkes |
| Re:Some great news, at last. | 17/12/25 16:15:00 | Jonathan Callaway |
| Re:Re:Some great news, at last. | 17/12/25 17:53:00 | Philippa Bond |
| Re:Re:Re:Some great news, at last. | 17/12/25 21:59:00 | Steven Rose |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Some great news, at last. | 17/12/25 22:25:00 | Gerry Boyce |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Some great news, at last. | 17/12/25 22:36:00 | Ed Robinson |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Some great news, at last. | 18/12/25 15:12:00 | John Hawkes |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Some great news, at last. | 18/12/25 15:31:00 | Gerry Boyce |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Some great news, at last. | 18/12/25 16:29:00 | John Hawkes |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Some great news, at last. | 18/12/25 16:47:00 | Gerry Boyce |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Some great news, at last. | 18/12/25 17:28:00 | David Ainsworth |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Some great news, at last. | 18/12/25 20:40:00 | John Hawkes |
| Reply | 17/12/25 22:45:00 | Michael Ixer |
| Re:Reply | 18/12/25 15:29:00 | John Hawkes |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Some great news, at last. | 18/12/25 15:00:00 | John Hawkes |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Some great news, at last. | 18/12/25 16:26:00 | Michael Brigo |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Some great news, at last. | 18/12/25 16:52:00 | Gerry Boyce |