UK have no plans to alter immigration policy to reach trade agreement with India

To contribute to securing a free trade agreement with India, Britain has no intentions to alter its strategy for lowering net migration, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Thursday.

Challenging or not?

Although the remaining issues to be considered are some of the most challenging, there is rising optimism that a free trade agreement between the nations might be finalised this year.

Sunak, who will attend the G20 summit in India this weekend, informed his ministers this week that while conversations were moving well, he would only accept a strategy that was beneficial to all of Britain.

The official statement

Kemi Badenoch, the trade minister, stated in June that temporary business visas would be included in trade negotiations, but that larger immigration promises or access to the British labor market for workers from India would not.

Sunak’s spokesperson told media, “The prime minister believes that the current levels of migration are too high … To be crystal clear, there are no plans to change our immigration policy to achieve this free trade agreement and that includes student visas.”

Vikram Doriaswamy, India’s High Commissioner to Britain, countered that while the idea that India wanted additional visas had appeared in British media, it had not appeared in Indian media.

He mentioned, “We never said that the visas are part of our ask,” he added, adding that India instead sought simpler ways for companies to move UK and Indian nationals between the countries.“We are not asking for migrants to be able to come here.”