Visas Must Not Be Part of Any New Trade Deals

Pete North • 10 January 2022

Industry is not owed a ready supply of cheaper labour

Lord Bilimoria, the CBI president and Tory donor, has pressed for looser visa restrictions between India and the UK ahead of the formal launch of trade talks between the two countries this week.

The intervention of the Cobra beer founder, one of the UK’s most prominent British-Indian businessmen, comes as the International Trade Secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, prepares to fly to Delhi in pursuit of a deal.

The peer said that “no one is asking for open borders” but added: “Mobility has historically been important and will continue to be important in both countries’ interests – and both ways.” Indian workers were granted more than 40,000 skilled worker visas in the year to June.

UKIP takes the view that if UK businesses need skilled workers, they should start training them. Industry is not owed a ready supply of cheaper labour. Moreover, we should not be taking business advice from Indian born Bilimoria.

In 2009 his Cobra Beer enterprise was forced into administration, but not before Bilimoria had negotiated what is known as a “pre-pack deal”, which enabled him to go into business with the US-based Molson Coors Company. This delivered him a multi-million annual dividend income, but left his 340 shareholders with losses of £71 million.

Although Bilimoria pledged to repay his debts, by 2019, when he was being groomed to take over the presidency of the CBI, The Times reported that families who had ploughed their savings into his business were still waiting for their money back. The situation had not dramatically improved by January 2021, when some creditors were still waiting to be reimbursed, with one saying that he had been “burnt alive” while the peer rose from the “ashes like a phoenix”.

Although Bilimoria said in 2019 that he was doing his “utmost” to pay back creditors and would do so for “as long as it takes”, The Times reported that creditors with insurance policies had been excluded, even though such policies typically pay out only a percentage of claims, leaving many out of pocket.

This is the calibre of the man that the CBI now deems fit to represent it on matters such employment, trade and immigration. And, in the latter area, Bilimoria has form which pre-dates his CBI presidency.

In February 2014, he spoke in the debate on the Immigration Bill, complaining about the government’s “madcap immigration cap policy” which targeting bringing down the immigration level “to the tens of thousands”. This, he declared, “is shooting ourselves in the foot”.

This latest intervention in the immigration debate is more self-serving than it is helpful. The “captains of industry”, as always, are looking after their own interests. And, as we have seen so often before, their interest and the interests of the nation are not always the same.

< Older Post Newer Post >

Recent National News

Enough is Enough

by Cameron Bishop • 2 November 2024

Cameron Bishop Former Police Crown Servant, Solicitor & UKIP Activist

Ever wondered what makes UKIP different?

by Ben Walker • 21 October 2024

Ben Walker National Party Chairman - UK Independence Party

The Father of BREXIT Dies

by Stuart Gulleford • 11 September 2024

Jeffrey Titford 24.10.1933 – 09.09.2024 Jeffrey Titford, the former Leader of the UK Independence Party and two term MEP for the East of England, has passed away, after suffering from cancer. His family announced his death on 10 th September, aged 90. Jeffrey was one of the fathers of Brexit, coming to the fore in national and international politics at a time when leaving the EU was considered unthinkable and long before it became official Conservative Party policy. A visionary and a democrat, who did not believe that EU membership provided a viable future for Britain as an independent, self-governing nation, Jeffrey Titford was elected to the European Parliament at the 1999 European Parliamentary Elections, aged 63. He was one of three UK Independence Party MEPs elected, which sent shock waves through the political world. He became Leader of the Party in 2000 and served for three years bringing stability and respectability to its campaigns. During this period, he made seventy speeches a year, travelling all over the country. He also served as interim Leader from September to November 2010, following the resignation of Lord Pearson of Rannoch, while the election of a new Leader was held. During his time in the European Parliament, he made dozens of speeches in Plenary session severely criticising the EU and particularly the level of fraud in its finances. He also extensively lobbied the European Commission and the Government in Westminster on behalf of the British fishing and farming industries. He led several delegations of fishermen to see UK Agriculture Ministers in Westminster and also took a delegation to meet the European Commissioner for Fishing in Brussels. He wrote monthly columns for the East Anglian Daily Times, the Hertfordshire Mercury and Farmers Guide and made many appearances on regional television. He also made a guest appearance on Breakfast with Frost. Jeffrey Titford’s political career began in 1970, when he became a Councillor on the Clacton Urban District Council. He ended his association with the Conservative Party in 1992, in protest over Prime Minister John Major’s signing of the Maastricht Treaty. He joined Sir James Goldsmith’s Referendum Party and, in a sign of things to come, stood in the General Election of 1997 in Harwich when he was the Party’s most successful candidate, securing almost 10 per cent of the vote and, in the process, unseating the sitting Member of Parliament. Following the death of Sir James Goldsmith, Jeffrey was invited to join the UK Independence Party (UKIP), where he established a branch in Clacton and a regional committee, which led to his successful campaign in the European Elections in 1999. He paved the way for Nigel Farage’s subsequent success in Clacton at the 2024 General Election. He was re-elected to the European Parliament in 2004, with a greatly increased share of the vote and UKIP also returned a second MEP. He retired from European Politics in 2009 and was made an Honorary Patron of the Party in 2006 and became President for Life in 2011. Life before politics Following National Service in the RAF, Jeffrey joined the family’s funeral directing business in 1956, where he had a 35 year career, during which he served for 12 years on the National Association of Funeral Director’s (NAFD) National Executive and rose to National President in 1975-76. He was instrumental in developing an official code of practice for the funeral profession, at the request of the Office of Fair Trading. He also successfully campaigned for funeral directors to have the right to sell a package funeral and carried out the first review of the practice manual for funeral directing, which led to the creation of a formal qualification for funeral directors, recognised by the NAFD. He sold the company in February 1989 and retired from the profession. An enthusiastic Rotarian, Jeffrey served as President of the Clacton and later Frinton Rotary Clubs. He also belonged to the Clacton Operatic and Clacton Dramatic Societies, taking lead roles in both companies. However, his most successful hobby was rally driving. He was a leading light in the Clacton Motor Club in the early seventies for whom he was the regional rally champion for six consecutive years. Jeffrey Titford was a devoted family man and is survived by his wife Margaret, one son, three daughters, eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren.