Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has signed a free trade deal with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in a multi-billion pound export boost.
UK cars and whisky will be cheaper to export to India and Indian textiles and jewellery cheaper to export to the UK under the agreement.
The deal took three years to reach and also commits to a new India-UK plan to tackle illegal migration.
Opponents had warned the deal could undercut British workers due to extended social security terms, but UK Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said this was “completely wrong” and Indian workers on temporary secondment to the UK would get the same deal already offered to many other countries.
Speaking at the signing at the UK prime minister’s country residence Chequers, Sir Keir said the UK-India agreement was “the biggest and most economically significant” trade deal Britain has made since Brexit.
“This deal is now signed, sealed, delivered,” he said.
“The UK has been negotiating a deal like this for many years, but it is this government that got it done, and with it, we’re sending a very powerful message that Britain is open for business, and that is already generating huge confidence.”
The deal will create more than 2,200 British jobs across the country, said Sir Keir, as Indian firms expand their operations in the UK and British companies secure new business opportunities in India.
Sir Keir also said a trade deal was “not the extent or the limit of our collaboration with India” a country with which the UK has “unique bonds of history, of family and of culture, and we want to strengthen our relationship further”.
Modi hailed what he called “a blueprint for our shared prosperity”.
“On the one hand, Indian textiles, footwear, gems and jewellery, seafood, engineering goods will get better market access in the UK…
“On the other hand, people and industries in India will be able to access products made in the UK, such as medical devices and aerospace parts, at affordable and attractive prices.”
