Chancellor Rachel Reeves has finally confessed that Labour is planning to betray the 2016 Brexit referendum by agreeing a new youth mobility scheme with the European Union. Speaking in Washington DC, Ms Reeves openly admitted that the government “want to enable young people from Europe and the UK to be able to work and travel overseas”.

The new policy ambition is a major U-turn from Sir Keir Starmer’s ministers, after the government previously flatly rejected calls for such a scheme. Last August, Sir Keir’s official spokesman insisted: “We are not considering an EU-wide youth mobility scheme and there will be no return to freedom of movement.” A year ago, while courting votes ahead of their landslide election win, a Labour Party official condemned the proposal as “synonymous with freedom of movement”, something the party told voters was completely off the table.

Ms Reeves told The Times: “We’re going to bring down net migration and we aren’t going to return to freedom of movement.”

“But we are hosting the summit next month. We do want to see better trading relationships between our countries and we do want to enable young people from Europe and the UK to be able to work and travel overseas.

"But we’ve got to get the balance right, because I do not want to see net migration increasing. I want to see net migration falling.”

The European Commission has been pushing for a UK-EU youth mobility scheme for the past year, which would enable citizens between 18 and 30 to live and work in their chosen destination for up to four years.

However Sir Keir is under pressure from anti-Brexit Labour MP backbenchers to cave into the EU as part of his wider reset of relation with the continent.

More than 60 of his MPs signed a letter to the PM’s minister for EU negotiations, Nick Thomas-Symonds, demanding he agree to a capped youth visa scheme with Brussels.

The letter read: “We want to see a new and bespoke youth visa scheme for UK and EU citizens aged under 30.”

“As with all of the UK’s existing schemes, we believe this should be time-limited and subject to a cap on numbers.”

This week a source with knowledge of the ongoing talks suggested the youth mobility scheme could be capped as high as 70,000 people per year.

This is leading to a split in government, as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper attempts to stick to her party’s manifesto pledge of bringing down net migration.

Ms Cooper is reportedly insisting on both a cap on numbers, and a time limit for those participating of just one year - a quarter of what the EU has called for.

The EU is reportedly receptive to the Home Secretary’s demands, and could be willing to concede on the shorter time length.

An EU source said: “Everyone is being cautious but there is a desire to find a way that removes any suggestion that this is going to increase migration. It could come in many forms and quotas is just one.”

Brussels may also rebrand the scheme as a “youth experience” programme in order to mitigate anger among Brexiteers.