London:
Only temporary business mobility visas fall within the purview of the ongoing India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations and other categories, including student visas, will not form part of the pact, the UK government has informed peers during a House of Lords debate.
During a ‘Question for Short Debate’ session in the Upper House of the British Parliament last week, cross-party peers sought clarity on the FTA negotiations which were relaunched during UK Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds visit to New Delhi last month.
Lord Sonny Leong responded to a series of issues in his capacity as Government Whip in the Lords, while also pointing to his own India connection – being married to Indian-origin wife Gita.
“Our (bilateral) relationship also includes the millions in India who follow the Premier League and the huge market for Bollywood movies in the UK, which I and my wife enjoy most weekends and whose music we occasionally dance to,” said Leong.
“On visas… our negotiations consider only business mobility, so they cover only relevant business visas, which are, by their nature, limited, temporary and for specific purposes. This is also beneficial to UK exporters delivering services abroad. Student visas are not part of the trade deals,” he said.
Responding to calls for the Labour government to set a deadline to complete the FTA, negotiations for which opened in January 2022 under the previous Conservative Party tenure, Lord Leong said: “The government have made clear that we are willing to negotiate at pace towards a deal in the best interests of the UK.
“Although I recognise and agree that we would all like this deal to be speedily signed, the government can sign only once we have secured the right deal for the UK, so we will prioritise the quality of the deal rather than the haste with which we can secure it.” The minister noted that the bilateral trading relationship with India was worth GBP 41 billion last year, with two-way investment flows supporting close to 600,000 jobs across both economies.
“But there is more that we can do… In any trade agreement, one of the main ambitions is to reduce the tariffs that UK exporters face. This is particularly important when Indian tariffs can exceed 100 per cent on goods such as whisky,” he said.
He reiterated that revealing any further FTA details would compromise the UK’s negotiating position by getting into the specifics of a “live negotiation”.
During the debate last Thursday, British Indian peers including Karan Bilimoria, Kuldip Singh Sahota, Sandy Verma and Raj Loomba were among those who addressed Parliament on the urgency of an FTA with “soon-to-be the third biggest economy in the world”.
“Trade is about growth, jobs and opportunity. If we get this right, we can shape the UK’s economic future for decades to come, but, if we get it wrong – or worse, do nothing – others will fill the gap. I urge the government to move swiftly, be bold, and ensure that Britain is at the heart of the fastest-growing region in the world,” said Lord Sahota.
Lord Bilimoria called on the UK to bolster its Indo-Pacific connections by joining the Quad alliance, which involves India, the US, Japan and Australia, as an expanded “Quad Plus”.
“The benefits of an FTA are lower trade costs for businesses, greater consumer choice, lower prices and the maintenance of standards… three Diwalis have gone by since we started these negotiations, so please let us set a deadline, let us not have the best being the enemy of the good and let us conclude this free trade agreement. Let us get it done,” he said.
Baroness Verma called on the government to “take a leap and a jump” and appoint trade envoys to India to back up the efforts of ministers and diplomats in the region.
“We have so many envoys in other countries; it is beyond my understanding why we do not have dedicated envoys for a country as big as India from the UK,” she said.
India and Britain concluded a relaunched round of FTA negotiations last month, during what the UK’s Department for Business and Trade (DBT) dubbed as “focussed discussions”.
“From my discussions with Prime Minister Starmer, Foreign Secretary David Lammy and [Business] Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, I got a consistent message that the British side is also interested in moving forward,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said with reference to the trade talks during his UK visit last week.
“I had a few points to convey on behalf of my concerned colleagues as well. So, I’m cautiously optimistic and hope that it (FTA) doesn’t take that long,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
