Latest news with #IndiaTradeDeal
Daily Mail
18-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Starmer HAS to respect our decision to leave the EU, says Shadow Chancellor MEL STRIDE
Today's the day we are set to find out the details of Sir Keir Starmer 's 'reset' with the European Union. If his previous attempts at trade deals are anything to go by, Britain will be worse off at the end of the day than we are right now. Because when Labour negotiates, Britain loses. Sir Keir is meeting European leaders with a simple choice: Defend and respect the UK's independence or begin unpicking Brexit, step by step. Our great country voted to leave the European Union – a democratic decision that must be respected. A promise of a Britain where we could strike trade deals, forge our own way and be a rule maker, not a rule taker. Our prime minister should put the national interest first and uphold this. But the early signs of this EU reset are worrying. And under Starmer's leadership, the UK has slipped backwards on the global stage. The India trade deal offered overseas workers tax breaks while British workers faced higher levies at home through Labour's reckless jobs tax. His talks with the US were rushed, and left us worse off than where we were in March. And if today is anything like his trip to Albania, where that country's PM stood next to him and told the media he wasn't interested in the plans Starmer had travelled there to announce, it will be a bad day for Britain. This is not how a country like the UK should conduct itself on the international stage – but that's what happens when you enter government with no plan. Britain needs growth and jobs, yet Starmer has piled record taxes on businesses and unemployment is rising as a result because businesses, not the state, are the engine of job creation. Last week's figures showed a 10 per cent increase in joblessness since Starmer took office. Job losses are more than just statistics – they are families struggling to make ends meet, food not being put on the table and people's livelihoods unfulfilled. If Starmer is serious about easing friction for travellers, a simple e-gates agreement should be agreed. Instead, his ministers are pursuing a youth mobility scheme that could be simply a return to free movement by the back door. Ever more low-skill, low-wage immigration is the last thing we need. And if so-called 'dynamic alignment' is Labour's plan, that means following EU rules without even having a say over what those rules are – that would be a betrayal of the Brexit vote, pure and simple. We cannot afford to become a country that gives ground away quietly, piece by piece. But we have the world's worst negotiator in No 10. And countries around the world are queuing up to take advantage. Our Prime Minister must get a grip and, for once, stand up for Britain on the world stage. But if his record is anything to go by, none of us should hold our breath.
The Independent
14-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Details of Starmer's Brexit reset deal revealed including youth mobility scheme
Keir Starmer is set to agree a youth mobility scheme in alignment with the European Union despite his controversial clampdown on migration, a senior government source has confirmed with The Independent. The prime minister's announcement this week to 'significantly' reduce legal migration was apparently designed to 'allow room' for the potential scheme as part of his post-Brexit reset of relations with the bloc, The Independent has been told. The speech on Monday sparked alarm with claims it echoed Enoch Powell 's infamous 'rivers of blood' speech in 1968 that whipped up a frenzy of anti-immigration hatred across the UK. It is understood the mobility scheme could be similar to the one available between the UK and Australia, allowing people aged between 18 and 30 to travel and work freely between countries for two years. The much-discussed Brexit reset deal is also set to bring about much closer cooperation on European defence, with the UK set to play a much more advanced role. The source revealed the PM's next target will be a trade deal with the Gulf states in a bid to unlock billions in funding for economic growth in the UK. The senior government figure warned that the deal will anger 'the two extremities' of the Brexit debate but that it 'will be superb' when it is unveiled at a summit on Monday. After signing a massive free trade agreement with India and two days later a US deal with Donald Trump, Sir Keir's strategy is coming together. 'I hope Keir gets credit as it's him that's driven this strategy,' The Independent was told. But the careful balance he has had to strike to 'have his cake and eat it' was to hold back on some of the demands from Trump to allow the UK to align with the EU. 'Essentially why the US deal didn't go further so we could keep the alignment of the EU deal,' the senior source confirmed. They added that the reason 'the door is open for further US deals' was to allow the flexibility of exploring further options once the post-Brexit deal is set. But the revelation appears to confirm the slip made by Rachel Reeves in the US when she told the BBC that the EU was a priority over the US. 'We will do a lot to get more and smoother trade, probably including a youth mobility scheme. Both extremities will be unhappy but most will see it as a good deal. 'The Brexiteers will cry betrayal and the Remainers will demand rejoin but it'll be superb. 'The deal will be good and when that sits alongside India and the US it'll be great.' The Independent has revealed that research carried out by Dr Huanjia Ma and Dr Matt Lyons shows the US trade deal has halved the impact of Trump's 'liberation day' tariffs in a major victory for the prime minister. The government's own research on the India deal claimed it would increase bilateral trade by £25.5 billion, £15.7 billion of which is expected to be from rising exports from UK businesses into India. As a result of this deal, UK GDP is expected to increase by £4.8 billion (0.1 per cent) each and every year in the long term. Workers will benefit from wages growing by a further estimated £2.2 billion each and every year in the long term. Speaking last week to The Independent, Sir Keir made it clear that his vision of the UK as a trading hub between the major economies is now central to his plans to deliver economic growth. He has been buoyed with his successes last week not least in reversing the Barack Obama warning the UK would be 'back of the queue' for the US if it voted for Brexit. His efforts to build a close relationship with Trump in fact put the UK at the front of the queue for international trade deals. In his interview with The Independent, Sir Keir promised that the EU deal 'will be ambitious' to go alongside 'the big wins' of the agreements with India and the US. He said: 'It's central to what we want to do, which is to grow the economy, create wealth, make sure people feel better off. 'When you're protecting jobs, creating more opportunities, that is a really good way of creating wealth. That's been the number one mission of government from the get go, but also in the environment that we're now in' While Ms Reeves has been under fire over tax rises and welfare cuts, he argued that the tough decisions they had taken have made the UK an attractive one for other countries to do deals with and businesses to invest in. He said: 'The fact that we've now had four interest rate cuts in a row, that we've stabilised the economy, we've got clear fiscal rules mean other countries now see the UK as a place that they want to do trade with, and it's a really important component, because countries have choices about who they trade with.'
Times
07-05-2025
- Business
- Times
UK-India trade deal: No British worker undercut, says minister
The trade secretary has said he would never undercut British workers, as he accused the Tories of attacking the India trade deal because they were unable get it 'across the line'. Jonathan Reynolds described Britain's new agreement with India as 'a smasher of a deal' and accused the Conservatives and Reform of being 'unable to accept' that a Labour government had done something they could not. Britain's £5 billion-a-year free trade agreement with India has been criticised for offering a controversial tax break to Indian workers and companies. Ministers conceded to demands to exempt Indian workers and companies from paying national insurance contributions for up to three years on staff seconded to the UK. However, Reynolds told Times Radio: 'No British worker is undercut.' He
