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Kemi Badenoch, Britain’s former trade and business secretary, and a leading contender to replace Rishi Sunak as Conservative Party chief and Opposition Leader, has reportedly stated that she blocked the India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) from advancing over demands for more visas.
Badenoch, of Nigerian descent and currently vying against her former Cabinet colleague Robert Jenrick in the ongoing Conservative party leadership contest, suggested that the delay in finalising the FTA during the Sunak government was partly due to the Indian side expecting more concessions over the issue of migration.
“As business secretary, even as I was trying to do things to limit immigration, we had an India FTA where they kept trying to bring in migration and I said no. It’s one of the reasons why we didn’t sign it,” Badenoch reportedly told ‘The Telegraph’.
However, some of Badenoch’s former ministerial colleagues, speaking to ‘The Times’, have disputed her claims, arguing that she was pushing for a deal, as she she oversaw several rounds of negotiations towards an FTA expected to significantly enhance the 38 billion pounds a year India-UK bilateral trading partnership.
“Kemi just wanted to get a deal at all costs and didn’t really think that the objections that were being put forward were serious. She said they were ideologically driven, that they were impractical and weren’t conducive to good relations with the Indians,” a former Cabinet minister was quoted as saying.
“Kemi wanted a trophy to show post-Brexit benefits and there was a zeal to achieve it,” the former minister said.