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Sir Keir Starmer is set to resist demands from business leaders to provide more visas for highly skilled workers from India to come to the UK, the prime minister said en route to Mumbai for a two-day trade trip.
Asked whether he could allow more visas for the smartest talent from India, the prime minister said this was “not part of the plan”, pointing out that the UK’s trade deal with India signed in July did not involve a substantial change in the visa arrangements.
“We’re here now to take advantage of the free trade deal . . . the issue is not about visas. It’s about business to business engagement and investment and jobs and prosperity coming into the United Kingdom,” he told reporters on the plane to India.
Starmer, who will hold bilateral talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, is travelling with 125 UK chief executives, cultural leaders and vice-chancellors of universities on the two-day trip.
The delegation, dubbed “the largest-ever government trade mission to India”, includes the heads of Rolls-Royce, British Telecom, Diageo, BP, British Airways and London Stock Exchange.
Downing Street said Starmer wanted to unlock new opportunities, secure investments and seal deals to drive growth in the wake of the trade deal, which the government expects to increase British GDP by £4.8bn a year.
The agreement, first announced in May and signed off in July when Modi visited London, means tariffs on more than 90 per cent of UK exports to India will be cut, with the largest reductions on cosmetics, clothes and food and drink, albeit gradually in some cases.
BA said it would introduce a third daily flight between New Delhi and London Heathrow in 2026, subject to regulatory and capacity approval.
Manchester airport will also launch a new direct route to Delhi operated by IndiGo, adding to its existing Mumbai service and making it the only UK airport outside London with connections to both cities.
