British Foreign Minister David Lammy and S Jaishankar (symbolic photo)
London: A former British minister has revealed why the much-awaited Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and Britain has not been reached yet. Former UK Trade and Commerce Minister Kemi Badenoch has claimed that she deliberately blocked the India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) due to her demand for more visas. Badenoch is the frontrunner to replace Rishi Sunak as Conservative Party leader and leader of the opposition. Nigerian-born Badenoch said one of the reasons the Sunak-led Tory government did not sign the FTA was that the Indian side was expecting more concessions on the migration issue.
According to ‘The Telegraph’, Badenoch said, “As Trade Minister, when I was trying to do something to limit migration, we had the issue of FTA with India under which they restrict migration. They were asking for more concessions in the matter, but I refused. That’s one of the reasons why we didn’t sign it.” However, some of his former Tory cabinet colleagues contradicted Badenoch’s claim in ‘The Times’ that this was unlikely because he would She was pushing for the agreement, which was expected to significantly increase the bilateral trade partnership by 38 billion GBP per year.
Why is FTA stuck?
A former cabinet minister was quoted in the news as saying, “Kemi wanted to compromise at any cost and did not think that the objections being put forward were serious.” “Kemi wanted an achievement to show the benefits of post-Brexit and was excited to achieve it,” the former minister was quoted as saying. “The reality was that all the bargaining power was with the Indians. She was close and her influence in the conversation was more than ours. There was a lot of pressure on us to do all the work and they were very careless in making the deal. This was where the balance of power was and we always started from a weaker position.
Was Bedenoch ready to sign the agreement?
It is also being said that Badenoch was not ready to sign the agreement at any cost. A source close to him denied Badenoch’s claim of being ready. He said that the Government of India decided not to sign the agreement with the Conservative government in the hope that it might be able to negotiate better terms under a Labor Party government. ‘The Times’ quoted a source as saying, “Kemi did not want to make any deal that would lead to any change in Britain’s immigration rules. This is a complete lie, she never does this. India did not do this because it knew that under a Labor government it would get better concessions on students and social security.
What is the stance of new PM Keir Starmer?
Reports from India indicate that FTA negotiations are set to begin next month under the Labor Party government led by Britain’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer and that UK officials have set no timeline for expediting them after 14 rounds of talks. Are doing. Starmer’s foreign affairs spokesman said this week: “We remain committed to a trade deal with India and intend to restart negotiations as soon as possible.” Resigned from the post of party chief after the crushing defeat. Sunak’s successor will be announced on November 2. (Language)
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