Labour accused of using taxpayer cash to fund ‘pro-EU propaganda’ at UK universities championing ‘European values’

The UK is already set to rejoin the bloc’s Erasmus Plus scheme from this January after Labour struck a deal with European leaders last December.

Now, some of the world’s most prestigious institutions will be allowed to request funding through the scheme and teach courses to “encourage European values and promote European citizenship”, The Telegraph revealed.

The taxpayer cash will support Jean Monnet Actions, which is a group of programmes, centres and professorships in universities.

The funds are directly funnelled from the European Education and Culture Executive Agency, a part of the European Commission, the paper reported.

Erasmus will come at the unsightly price of around £570million next year – all the while opening up Britain’s borders to thousands of European students.

The programme said modules “should promote active European citizenship and the foundational values of the EU”.

Top Tory Alex Burghart told The Telegraph: “Labour are pushing a scheme that pays universities to teach EU symbols, EU messaging and a so-called ‘European identity’.

“British taxpayers will have to cover the costs which, extraordinarily, will run into billions.”

He further accused Erasmus of becoming a “Trojan horse” with Britons soon due to be “bankrolling courses awash with EU propaganda”.

Under the Erasmus deal, European students will be able to spend a year studying in Britain as part of their degree, while continuing to pay tuition fees to their home universities.

British students will also be able to complete a year of their degree at a European university.

The move was welcomed by universities which have consistently pushed for Britain to rejoin the programme.

Despite Erasmus being heavily skewed to benefit students from the continent, the EU demanded £300million annually for Britain to remain within it.

In 2018, a little under 32,000 European students came to Britain to study, compared to 17,000 Britons moving in the opposite direction.

France led the way with the highest number of student arrivals, followed by Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.

A Labour spokesman said: “Once again the Tories are choosing distortion over facts. Teaching students about EU institutions and how they work is not the same as promoting a pro-EU viewpoint.

“Universities choose whether to apply for Jean Monnet funding where it supports the teaching and research they want to deliver, and remain responsible for ensuring course content is appropriate.

“These actions make up only a very small proportion of the overall Erasmus+ budget.

“Erasmus will enable over 100,000 children and young people to access life-changing opportunities to travel and study abroad, and we secured a 30 per cent discount on membership to ensure value for money for taxpayers.”