Lisa Nandy rejects criticism after she links the government’s plan to bring back the Erasmus+ study scheme with Remembrance Sunday. She is accused of “politicising” the annual civic occasion by using it to promote closer ties with the European Union, after Britain left Erasmus+ following Brexit and Labour negotiated its return.
In coverage, Conservative figures criticise her messaging as disrespectful, saying veterans did not fight for a student exchange and arguing her press release frames Remembrance as an EU membership pitch. Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake is cited as saying the move is tone deaf. In an LBC interview, Lewis Goodall disputes the framing, telling Nandy that soldiers died to defeat Nazism and free Europe, and that connecting that sacrifice to the exchange programme is insulting.
Nandy responds that she does not accept the accusation and calls Goodall’s characterisation “crass”, arguing it is important to honour those who served by pursuing peace and collaboration. Other outlets largely repeat the same dispute and focus on the criticism and her rejection of it.
