LONDON: Britain’s opposition Labour Party on Monday criticised Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s ruling Conservative government for “overpromising and underdelivering” on ties with India, and declared it was “ready to get started” on a free trade agreement (FTA) if it wins the July 4 general election.
Speaking at the India Global Forum (IGF) in the final week of the election campaign, the party’s shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, made clear his ambition for the FTA to be a “floor, not a ceiling” for his partnership with his “friend” External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
India and the UK have completed 13 rounds of FTA negotiations to boost trade ties estimated at £38.1 billion per year, but talks are currently stalled amid election cycles in both countries.
“Many Diwalis have passed without a trade deal and many businesses have been left waiting,” Lammy said, referring to the missed Diwali 2022 deadline set by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson for concluding an FTA.
“My message [Finance] Minister [Nirmala] Sitharaman and [Trade] Minister [Piyush] “The Labour Party is ready. Let’s finally get the free trade agreement and move forward,” Goyal said, adding that he would reach Delhi by July-end if elected to power on July 4.
Mr Lammy said the Conservative party had “overpromised and underdelivered” on Britain’s relationship with India.
Lammy has described India as his party’s “priority” and an economic, technological and cultural “superpower” as he seeks to set the tone for his future tenure in a Labour-led government and hopes to become the country’s foreign minister.
“With the advent of Labour, the days of Prime Minister Boris Johnson reciting old poems by Rudyard Kipling in Asia are over. If he recites poetry in India, it will be Tagore’s poetry, because in a superpower like India, the areas of cooperation and areas of learning are limitless,” he said.
From a broader foreign policy perspective, Lamy emphasised working with India on a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”
“We support a rules-based order and oppose those who seek to forcibly redraw borders in new forms of imperialism. [Russian President] “Putin in Europe, and countries in Asia who deny their neighbors a free choice and try to impose their will on them,” he said.
“Europe and Asia are not two separate worlds. In this challenging environment, the UK will strive to maintain and strengthen our security partnership with India, from military to maritime security, from cyber to critical and emerging technologies, from defence and industrial cooperation to supply chain security,” Lammy added.
With Labour showing a large lead over the incumbent Conservative Party in all pre-election polls, Lammy congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his re-election and also noted the similarities between the democratic values shared by the two countries.
“I deeply believe that India’s democratic elections, with the participation of nearly a billion voters, are the most important expression and the most important testimony not only of democratic ideals but of democratic practice in the world today. This is what unites us,” Lammy said.
The leading Labour politician highlighted climate change as one of the key areas of cooperation, saying the UK stands in solidarity with India as extreme heat continues across the country.
“There can be no energy transition without India’s energy transition. India is a vital partner not just for the UK but for the entire developed world,” he noted.
He also praised the “extraordinary contribution” of British Indians, who are not only the UK’s largest diaspora community but also “it is difficult to even imagine modern Britain without them”.
Finally, the Guyanese-born Lammy emphasised his personal connection to India, saying, “My great-grandmother was an Indian from Calcutta who sailed to the Caribbean as an indentured servant.”
“India is already making a significant contribution to the UK’s prosperity. Last year, India was the UK’s second largest contributor of foreign direct investment, but with India only the UK’s 12th largest trading partner, its contribution could be much higher,” he said.
Published June 24, 2024 16:15 IST
