The UK government has dismissed a Brussels proposal to allow young Brits easier access to study, work and live in the European Union.

The European Commission plan, outlined on Thursday, would have allowed EU and UK citizens aged between 18- and 30-years old to move freely between the two areas for the first time since Brexit.

According to the EU, the UK’s withdrawal from the bloc following the 2016 referendum has damaged mobility between Britain and continental Europe.

Under the agreement proposed by the EU’s executive arm, young EU and UK citizens would have been eligible to stay up to four years in the destination country.

Before Brexit, British nationals had the right to live and work freely in the EU, with reciprocity for EU nationals in the UK.

But The Guardian reported a government spokesperson saying on Friday: “We are not introducing an EU-wide youth mobility scheme – free movement within the EU was ended and there are no plans to introduce it.”

Labour also said it had “no plans for a youth mobility scheme”.

Britain had shown interest in agreements with individual European nations, and has its own Youth Mobility Scheme, which it has offered to some EU member states.

The commission said: “This situation has particularly affected the opportunities for young people to experience life on the other side of the Channel and to benefit from youth, cultural, educational, research and training exchanges,”