Media Pack 4

Opportunity beckons for Brexit Britain

With new trade deals already worth £1bn and creating 11,000 jobs in Britain, this deal represents just the tip of the iceberg.  In a continent of over a billion people and a GDP of close to $2 trillion the opportunities for British business in India could not be brighter.

In preliminary discussions covering trade as well as defence and security co-operation, the scope and extent of the UK’s intentions are clear.

Last Friday, Boris Johnson and Indian PM Modi agreed to fast-track a trade deal to be completed by the start of the Indian holy festival of Diwali, in October 2022.

Brexit Britain leaves EU standing

The EU by contrast has failed to secure a trade deal with India, FIFTEEN years after it first launched negotiations.  Discussions are still in abeyance.  Britain would be in the same boat if it had not left the EU. 

In an incident bordering on farce, the EU Commission President’s Head of Cabinet, Bjorn Seibert, flew into Delhi, cap in hand, the day after the PM’s departure, ahead of Ursula von der Leyen’s visit on Monday.  How many more times can we look forward to the EU following in Brexit Britain’s footsteps?

Commenting, CIBUK’s Deputy Chairman said:

”The news that India wants to strike a trade deal with the UK this year, after 15 years of the EU’s failures to get beyond first base, goes to show just how much Brexit is benefiting our country. None of this would have been possible had we still been a member.”

– Professor Daniel Hodson, CIBUK Deputy Chairman

KEY DATA

CIBUK is pleased to share its summary research on the key data behind the new policy including:

• New economic growth opportunities for both countries
• The current state of trade negotiations
• The vast, untapped potential of India as an economic and strategic ally
  

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Growth Opportunities for Brexit Britain in its new relationship with India

1. UK’s current trade with India

• UK exports to India : £7.7bn
• UK imports from India : £13.8bn
• India is the UK’s 15th largest trading partner
• The opportunities to increase UK exports to India are clearly very significant

2. Trade negotiations

• UK launched Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with India in January 2022 in New Delhi
• Both parties say negotiations are going well, four chapters of FTA already agreed
• Target is to complete FTA by end October (around 20 times faster than typical EU FTAs)
• New FTA would pave the way for doubling bilateral trade by 2030
• New deals worth £1 billion now agreed, creating 11,000 new jobs across UK

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A Golden Future

Why India is so important to a newly independent United Kingdom

• Population : 1.35 billion (3 times the size of the EU and the world’s 2^nd-largest after China)
• India is the largest democracy in the world
• 6 million people of Indian heritage live in the UK – the largest Indian diaspora
• GDP : $1.9 trillion (No.6 in the world, bigger than 16 of the 27 EU countries combined)
• Land mass : 1,269,219 sq miles (78% of all EU27 countries combined)

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Speaking in New Delhi on Friday Boris Johnson outlined the main points of the agreement in his talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi:

“We’ve agreed new deals worth £1 billion, and created more than 11,000 new jobs across the UK, in everything from electric buses to the robotic surgery of Smith and Nephew which I saw yesterday as well as in artificial intelligence, where India’s strengths are remarkable.

“And perhaps most significantly for the long term, we are making full use of the freedom that we now have to reach a Free Trade Agreement.”

– UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 22 Apr 2022

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India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said:

“For the past several years, Prime Minister Johnson has played a very important role in strengthening the relations between India and the UK. At the time when India is celebrating the Amrit Mahotsav of its independence, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s visit is a historic moment in itself.”

“Last year, we established the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries…. Teams of both countries are working on the subject of Free Trade Agreement. Good progress is being made in the negotiations. And we have decided to make full efforts towards the conclusion of the FTA by the end of this year.“

– Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 22 Apr 2022

CIBUK’s Deputy Chairman, Professor Daniel Hodson commented:

“Make no mistake, this agreement will be of massive global geopolitical importance, between a post Brexit Britain with an increasing Western leadership role and its Anglosphere and cultural partner, India, with its burgeoning economy as well as both geographical and diplomatic proximity with Russia and China.”

If successful, this particular agreement could herald the first in a series of far-reaching and lucrative trade deals between the UK and India, now the pre-eminent power in South East Asia.  

The opportunities are there to be grasped, says CIBUK.

Background information

Founded in 1969, for over 50 years the CIBUK has made a significant contribution in campaigning on issues important to the majority of our population and in securing our exit from the European Union. Now it’s time for the next chapter.