内容摘要：Last year, just over 24,000 YMS visas were issued - Australians were the largest single group, followed by New Zealanders and Canadians.

Last year, just over 24,000 YMS visas were issued - Australians were the largest single group, followed by New Zealanders and Canadians.

In those long, drama-filled nights of 2020, when the then-prime minister Boris Johnson was negotiating Brexit, the possibility of a Security and Defence Partnership was discussed. But the UK's main priority was diverging from Brussels. So nothing was agreed – a notable omission, some think.Now a new UK-EU security pact has been worked on for months, the plan is for it to be the centrepiece of what's agreed.

Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, who is overseeing negotiations, was at the early talks at Lancaster House. "Our relationship has had some difficulties," she told me, but "considering what is going on in the world […] we need to move forward with this partnership."Yet some think the UK should not seize this outstretched hand."The cornerstone of our defence is Nato," Alex Burghart, a Conservative frontbencher, told the Commons this week. "We know of no reason why Nato is insufficient."

Reform UK's deputy leader Richard Tice has his own view. "There's no value at all," he argues. "We do not want to be constrained by a bungling top-down bureaucratic military structure. Our defence is guaranteed by Nato."The government fires back on that point, arguing that a partnership will in no way undermine Nato; rather it will complement it, they say, because it will stretch to areas beyond defence, like the security of our economies, infrastructure, energy supplies, even migration and transnational crime.

Some industry experts also believe that a security pact could boost the UK economy. Kevin Craven, chief executive of ADS Group, a UK trade association that represents aerospace, defence and security firms, is among them.

Take, for example, the SAFE (Security Action For Europe) programme that is being set up by the EU, aiming to provide up to €150bn (£126bn) in loans for new projects. If the UK strikes a security partnership with the EU, then British weapons manufacturers could potentially access some of that cash.Lord Blunkett is launching his review alongside West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin, South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard and York and North Yorkshire Mayor David Skaith in Leeds.

He said: "Yorkshire has been punching under its weight for far too long, and with theand this infrastructure plan, the three Mayors are determined to reverse this historic trend.

"It's been a pleasure to be asked to pull together this credible and affordable plan, which presents a once in a lifetime opportunity to improve rail connectivity, and unlock economic growth and opportunities for all."Brabin said Yorkshire's rail network was "no longer fit for purpose" and they owed it to younger generations to secure funding for train services fit for the modern-age.