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For a year, and even before then, the government have been scrambling to agree a trade deal with India. It would certainly be an achievement to have such a deal with what is now the world’s most populous country. And indeed, the right trade agreement with India would serve our as well as their interests well; a great achievement. Not least because a broadly protectionist India has been very hesitant about opening up her markets with bilateral trade agreements.
The negotiations (some might call it wrangling) go back to Boris Johnson’s and Liz Truss’s time as PM, as do the persistent reports of India demanding enhanced visa access for her nationals. Both Johnson and Truss were relaxed about this. Indeed, both made a virtue of their open border instincts. While Mayor of London, Mr Johnson was keen on declaring an amnesty for those here illegally, Liz Truss, meanwhile, wanted high immigration to grow the economy – no thought to the greater pressures on limited resources, services and inadequate infrastructure, of course.
Now, it seems, our prime minister finds himself on the horns of a dilemma: does he give in to Mr Modi’s arm-twisting (blackmail?) to get a deal and no doubt please the Treasury and FCDO or listen to his Home Secretary and say no Mr Modi? Rumour has it that our PM believes the public are only concerned about illegal migration and are not worried about legal immigration (now 1.3 million per year) or annual net migration of over 600,000. If he really believes this he needs to be disabused of the notion, pretty damn quick.
If some reports are to be believed, visas remain the sticking point in the negotiations.
In June, Politico reported, ‘India has made access to the U.K. jobs market through internal company moves and access to the services sector for its citizens a key part of its demands’. If true, what Mr Modi is effectively demanding is something closer to free movement rights for a population that is about three times that of the EU; and much poorer to boot. No prime minister, don’t do it. You will rue the day that your pen signs off a deal with the visa concessions Mr Modi is, reportedly, after.
This is a preview of Migration Watch’s free weekly newsletter. You can read the full version here.
Please consider signing up to the newsletter directly, you can do so here and will receive an email copy of the newsletter every Friday as soon as it is released.