British Minister Of Indian Origin Is Against Giving Concession On Visa To Indians

Britain's Indian-origin Home Secretary Suella Braverman has cast doubts over a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with India on the issue of migration, as well as allowing Indians to stay on their visas in the UK, marked as the largest group of people.

Expressing concerns about an open border migration policy in an interview with The Spectator on Thursday, the British minister indicated she would not support the cabinet for a trade deal that would provide more visa concessions to India.

Suella Braverman's stand is believed to set up a potential confrontation between British Prime Minister Liz Truss and her, who wants an FTA with India within the Diwali deadline set by her predecessor Boris Johnson. Negotiations for which are currently in the final stages.

Braverman told the British monthly magazine, "I don't think the people who voted for Brexit want an open border immigration policy with India.

Responding to a question on visa concessions for students and entrepreneurs under the India-UK FTA, he said, "I have some objections to it." Looking at this migration to Britain, the largest group of people who overstay here are Indian migrants.

Braverman was clear about her stance on migration: “I campaigned to leave the EU because in part I wanted migration to fall. That was in our 2019 manifesto. If you look at net migration figures, they have not fallen – we’re pretty much at the same level as pre-Brexit.

“We’ve got the levers in place. Priti Patel and Boris Johnson put in the points-based system: we have new visa routes and the power to control who we want to come to the country. I think we should start exercising that power.”

It looks like Liz Truss wants a trade agreement with India to demonstrate the success of Brexit, whereas Braverman wants to be perceived as being strict on immigration.