UK Opposition Leader Kemi Badenoch to push for FTA with India

London: The UK's newly elected Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch, said she will continue to press for the conclusion of the free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations which she had worked towards as former business and trade secretary. Addressing a special diaspora gathering to celebrate the festive season at the High Commission of India in London on Tuesday evening, the Conservative Party leader said she would continue to champion the “important” bilateral partnership from the Opposition benches. “I want everyone to know just how important the UK-India relationship is, not just to the government but also to the Conservative Party,” said Badenoch.

“In the Department for Business, I did everything we could to continue strengthening relations with India and just because the Conservatives are not in government anymore doesn't mean that work will not continue. We really do value this relationship. We will continue to press for the conclusion of the India-UK FTA," said the Tory member of Parliament who succeeded Rishi Sunak as party leader earlier this month.

"The elections in both our countries got in the way; elections are now out of the way, it's time for us to get back to business and make sure our two governments are working towards this,” added Badenoch. Her intervention came as the latest Department for Business and Trade (DBT) statistics revealed that the annual two-way trade in goods and services between both countries had registered a 9.7 per cent hike over the past year to hit GBP 42 billion. India and the UK have been negotiating an FTA since January 2022 under the then Conservative-led government, something the Prime Minister Keir Starmer led Labour Party has committed to pursuing.

“We enjoy a thriving trade and investment partnership, which, through a future free trade agreement and Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), could create one of the strongest and most prosperous relationships and partnerships in the world, which we're very proud of,” said UK Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq in her keynote address to the London Global Convention organised by the Institute of Directors (IoD) this week. “The UK and India alike have businesses crying out for greater access to export markets, and through the combination of a new trade strategy and, of course, a free trade agreement, we can provide that access. We are confident as a new government that we can realise the full potential of the commercial ties between our two nations, which is already worth 42 billion pounds a year,” said Siddiq.

The British Bangladeshi Labour MP from London oversees financial services policy reform and regulation in her role as the government's Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister. She added: “Against the backdrop of our strategies for trade and industry, imagine how many more success stories we can create and how much more growth we can generate through a UK-India trade deal and investment treaty. “Imagine how many more entrepreneurs we can inspire to take the leap into international trade and commerce, from London to Delhi, Manchester to Jaipur, Edinburgh to Surat; the endless possibilities are before us. We're following the 2030 [India-UK] Roadmap to an even more vibrant and prosperous relationship between our two countries.”