UK-India free trade deal ‘on the verge of collapse’ after ‘disrespectful’ Home Secretary Suella Braverman sparks outrage in Delhi with attack on Indian migrants saying they are worst offenders for overstaying their visas

• Modi administration furious at comments made by Suella Braverman last week 
• She said that Brexiteers did not vote for an open borders policy with India 
• PM wants to lift cap on seasonal agricultural workers and broadband engineers
• Braverman: ‘The largest group of people who overstay (visas) are Indian’ 

Britain’s key trade deal with India is in danger of being scrapped by Delhi after comments by the Home Secretary about Indian migrants in the UK sparked outrage.

The Modi administration is furious at comments made by Suella Braverman last week in which she warned Prime Minister Liz Truss against easing immigration rules in any post-Brexit agreement. 

The Home Secretary said that Brexiteers did not vote for an open borders policy with India and claimed that visa overstayers from the subcontinent already pose a problem.

The Prime Minister is seeking a trade deal with India within months, and wants to lift the cap on seasonal agricultural workers and broadband engineers.

Earlier this year, Ms Truss’s predecessor Boris Johnson and Indian PM Narendra Modi set a deadline of Diwali – October 24 – for getting a trade deal over the line. 

But last week Mrs Braverman told The Spectator: ‘I have concerns about having an open borders migration policy with India.’

She acknowledged ‘there may be flexibility for students and entrepreneurs’ but went on: ‘I do have some reservations. Look at migration in this country – the largest group of people who overstay are Indian migrants.

The Modi administration is furious at a speech made by Suella Braverman last week in which she warned prime minister Liz Truss against easing immigration rules in any post-Brexit agreement.

The Prime Minister is seeking a trade deal with India within months, and wants to lift the cap on seasonal agricultural workers and broadband engineers.

But last week Mrs Braverman told The Spectator: ‘I have concerns about having an open borders migration policy with India.’ She acknowledged ‘there may be flexibility for students and entrepreneurs’ but went on: ‘I do have some reservations. Look at migration in this country – the largest group of people who overstay are Indian migrants.’

‘We even reached an agreement with the Indian government last year to encourage and facilitate better co-operation in this regard. It has not necessarily worked very well.’ She reiterated her ambition to cut net migration, as promised in the EU referendum as well as the Tories’ last election manifesto.

She said the UK must limit new arrivals, and wants job vacancies filled by older workers from the UK. 

According to the Times officials in Delhi are ‘shocked and disappointed’ by the ‘disrespectful’ remarks by Ms Braverman, whose father’s family were originally from Goa.

An Indian source suggested the PM should ‘disassociate’ herself from the remarks in order to get the trade deal over the line.   

An Indian government source told the paper: ‘There’s still a lot of goodwill but if certain individuals are still embedded in the government it will paralyse the talks’. 

India’s push comes in an effort to boost trade ties globally, that saw deals recently signed with Australia and the United Arab Emirates, so as to attract investment from companies seeking to diversify beyond China.

Britain is in the offing to become a major trade partner with India, and a major tax cut to imported cars will likely be well received by negotiators in the course of hashing out a hotly-anticipated FTA.

Ms Braverman has shown a willingness to depart from the Government’s line since being installed in the home Office last month.

At the Tory Conference in Birmingham she launched a swipe at Ms Truss as she tried to regain her balance amid the turmoil of the mini-Budget. 

The Home Secretary branded the PM’s U-turn on axing the 45p tax rate ‘disappointing’. 

Mrs Braverman, a darling of the Right who fought Ms Truss for the leadership over the summer, also poured petrol on the flaming spat about plans to cut benefits in real terms. Other Cabinet ministers have insisted that the handouts should rise in line with inflation. 

But in an outspoken appearance on the conference fringe that roamed far beyond her brief, Ms Braverman condemned the UK’s ‘Benefit Street culture’ – a reference to a TV programme about claimants.

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