- Monday, March 10, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Ever since British home secretary Suella Braverman, who took charge in September, has expressed concerns over the free trade agreement (FTA) with India which she believes would encourage immigration to her country, the future of the much-discussed FTA looks to be in jeopardy.
While the Indian side has tried to show that all is still well, it seems the tension is far from over.
On Wednesday (12), The Telegraph, India, came up with an editorial piece which advised New Delhi to go slow.
The piece, which started with the words, “Britain wants Indian trade. But it does not want Indians. That, in a nutshell, is the argument of the United Kingdom’s new home secretary, Suella Braverman,…” said India should be cautious about finalising a pact with the Liz Truss government which it said “seems unclear” about its goals and is also “largely unpopular”, if surveys are to be believed.
Speaking about the agreement, The Telegraph piece said that such deals are “effectively interim agreements” that cover some areas that are important to both sides and leave niggling matters of dispute for a full deal that can be inked later.
It said the interim deal between the two countries, which has been signed in less than two years, could theoretically lead to fast increase in bilateral trade; easy movement of people between the two nations; and make Scotch whiskey quite cheaper to import.
“But for India, easier access to Britain’s high technology industries and financial markets and the end of tough visa restrictions on travel to the UK have always been the central demands from the proposed FTA,” it said.
Focusing on Braverman’s remarks, the editorial said while her reservations against easing up visa barriers for Indians to enter the UK might annoy many Indians since the home secretary’s parents are of Indian origin, it added that the words reflected “the current wave of populist, almost post-ideological, rhetoric guiding British politics”.
“That mindset, also captured by the new British government’s economic policies, has left the pound pounded and millions of Britons struggling to make ends meet. Meanwhile, some reports suggest that data localisation — the concept that British firms that invest in India must not take data of Indian customers outside the country — has also emerged as a source of tension in FTA negotiations,” the Indian daily’s editorial said.
Cautioning against a rushed deal this Diwali, the editorial signed off by saying “there is no point in signing a Diwali deal that might explode”.
