The Tories are selling out British workers

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The Tories are selling out British workers

Pete North • 2 January 2022

The Tories learned nothing from Brexit

Ministers are looking to ease immigration restrictions in a bid to make it easier for thousands of Indian citizens to live and work in the UK as part of forthcoming trade talks. The potential offer will be under discussion when the international trade secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, travels to Delhi this month, according to The Times.

Relaxing immigration rules for Indian citizens is a key demand from Delhi. They export people, not goods. Moreover, it's also likely to be a key demand from Tory donors, particularly from within the Indian business community. If you seriously thought the Tories were going to get a grip on immigration then I have a bridge to sell you. Business wants its readily exploitable cheap foreign Labour and the Tories will deliver for them.

The visa relaxation options under consideration include a scheme similar to one agreed with Australia which would allow young Indians the right to live and work in the UK for up to three years. Another would be to cut visa fees for students and allow them to stay in Britain for a period of time after they graduate. On face value this not much to write home about, but it should be noted that the vast majority of illegal immigrants in the UK are visa overstayers and the Home Office has a lamentably poor record of deportations. This abject lack of enforcement amounts to open borders. India knows this.

There is also a broader question of whether we should even be in trade talks with India. We certainly shouldn't be looking to liberalise trade in goods with India where food fraud and dangerous food adulteration is common - as is the proliferation of counterfeit goods and fake medicines. India notionally subscribes to the familiar global standards but it doesn't enforce them, and what little enforcement there is, is deeply corrupt and cursory.

Meanwhile, British consumers tend to be fussy about welfare standards and labour conditions. We want to know that the clothes we wear are not made by child slave labourers and that workers get a fair day's pay. The UK would likely demand that India commits to the conventions as set out by the International Labour Organisation but again is there is no reason to believe the Indian government will actually uphold and enforce these standards. We should be especially concerned about mutual recognition of medical and technical qualifications being that fake qualifications are rife throughout India.

On trade in services there is a danger that the UK would be opening itself up to a wholesale theft of intellectual property. India is also unlikely to honour commitments on data protection. In 2017 data theft increased by 783% in India. If you speak to anyone who has ever outsourced UK software development to India, their advice is "don't". They're dishonest actors and there is no saving to be had. There is no polite way of saying it but India is a corrupt country from top to bottom.

It's hard to see what a UK-India FTA would do for British workers. It will ease the outsourcing of British jobs and open up our own markets to unfair and unsustainable competition, while visa liberalisation is yet another bailout for lazy, greedy British businesses who refuse to invest in training. UKIP is by no means a protectionist party, but one gets a sense that the Tories are in a rush to land any deals just for a quick headline, and the agendas of Indian billionaire Tory donors will be placed ahead of voter concerns.

Any trade deal involving liberalisation of immigration must be put to a referendum. If we allow trade deals to be rushed through on the nod without public debate or detailed scrutiny then we've merely exchanged a technocratic dictatorship in Brussels for a similar one in London. Britain is not desperate for trade deals and Brexit was a clear instruction to the establishment that there are bigger priorities for a nation than mere trade and GDP.

The Tories still haven't got the message on immigration. In the coming year we will again see new records set for illegal immigrants arriving by dinghy while Patel does nothing. For the Tories to be actively considering yet another large influx beggars belief. Their contempt for voters is absolute. We must teach them a lesson.

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