Ministers are poised to raise the youth visa cap to 80,000 young Europeans a year to rescue the EU summit

The cap hike — from 50,000 to up to 80,000 a year — is a major concession designed to unlock a full Brexit reset deal before the 20 November summit in Brussels where Andy Burnham is to lead the UK side. EU ambassadors heard this week that sticking points remain, including the UK's insistence on international tuition fees and a £1,035 NHS surcharge for young European visa holders. The summit date itself is now at risk, with some EU member states threatening to block the scheme over fears about the effect on their own labour markets.

The EU has offered an 'emergency brake' mechanism allowing periodic reviews of the cap rather than a fixed hard limit, as Brussels resists any permanent numerical ceiling.

Some EU states want no cap at all, or numbers as high as 500,000 a year — far above the UK's proposed 80,000 limit, which Starmer insists is a red line.

A six-month delay to the youth mobility deal itself is being considered by diplomats, to avoid the scheme's unresolved disputes sinking the wider summit.