- Friday, April 26, 2024
Suella Braverman aims to bring down net migration to the tens of thousands.
By: Pramod Thomas
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson met Indian leader Narendra Modi in April and set an ambitious target to sign the free trade agreement (FTA) by Diwali later this month.
Recently, Braverman said that she had doubts regarding the deal as it would increase immigration to the UK even as Truss is eager to sign an agreement with India by Diwali, on October 24.
As talks regarding the landmark deal are ongoing, reports have emerged regarding a rift between the prime minister Liz Truss and British Indian home secretary Suella Braverman over relaxing immigration laws for India to finalise the deal.
According to the home secretary, Indians are the most frequent visa overstayers in UK.
“I have concerns about having an open borders migration policy with India because I don’t think that’s what people voted for with Brexit,” she is reported to have said in a recent interview. Braverman is the daughter of a Tamil mother and Goan-origin father. Her parents migrated to UK from Kenya and Mauritius in the 1960s.
India has already demanded more work and study visas for its citizens as part of the deal.
Britain said it will only sign a trade deal with India when there is one that “meets the UK’s interests”.
“We remain clear that we won’t sacrifice quality for speed and will only sign when we have a deal that meets the UK’s interests,” a spokesperson for the British government said on Friday (7).
As many as 20,706 Indians (4.4 per cent) overstayed their visas in 2020, more than any other country, Home Office statistics revealed. However, the proportion is lower when compared to other countries.
For instance, 19,000 Chinese migrants overstayed their visas, a rate of 8 per cent, while arrivals from the Philippines, Pakistan and Nigeria had overstaying rates of 7 to 9 per cent, The Times reported.
While commenting about an agreement with the Indian government last year to control visa overstaying, Braverman said the deal signed during the time of Priti Patel ‘didn’t work very well’.
India refuted these claims and claimed that it has already initiated action in this regard.
“As part of our wider discussions under Migration and Mobility, the government of India is committed to working with the government of the UK to facilitate the return of Indian citizens who have overstayed their visa period here in the UK,” said the High Commission of India in a statement.
“As per the data shared with the Home Office, as of date, action has been initiated on all of the cases referred to the High Commission. Further, the UK has also undertaken to fulfil certain commitments as part of the Migration and Mobility Protocol, on which we await demonstrable progress.”
Former Cabinet minister Rory Stewart said that the prime minister and home secretary are on a ‘collision course’ on immigration policy.
According to him, Truss thinks that immigration can bring growth, but Braverman wants to cut down the number of immigrants to the UK.
In a recent Tory conference she revived a previous Conservative pledge to cut the overall migration from the current level of 239,000.
“In the 90s it was in the tens of thousands under Mrs Thatcher – net migration – and David Cameron famously said tens of thousands, no ifs no buts. So that would be my ultimate aspiration but we’ve got to take it slowly and we’ve got to go incrementally,” she was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
According to reports, her plan is to reduce the number of students, the number of work visas and the number of dependants on those visas.
Last week, the minister said that Britain has too many low-skilled migrant workers and very high numbers of international students, who often brought dependents with them.
