Trade minister: Johnson and Sunak failed to get this deal with India, but we did it

We spoke to Trade Minister Douglas Alexander. He began by telling me why he thinks this trade deal was so vital to the UK.

Douglas Alexander: What we’ve secured is a landmark agreement today. India is the fastest growing economy in the G20, but also has some of the highest tariffs in the G20. And so by a process of painful negotiation, difficult and challenging over many months, we did the work and we’ve delivered the deal.

Ciaran Jenkins: Do you think this requires an element of perspective, because your own figures tell us that it will benefit the economy GDP by about 4.8 billion by 2040? That’s not a huge amount of money, is it?

Douglas Alexander: £4.8 billion over the long term is important. That will come through each and every year in terms of UK GDP, but in the short term it also means we’ll be able to move forward in taking down some of the key tariff lines that have been a practical barrier to British businesses.

Ciaran Jenkins: The Conservatives say what you’ve agreed to is two-tier taxes. So Indian employees and Indian employers in the UK don’t pay national insurance contributions, which you have hiked up for UK employers. So how do you justify that, then?

Douglas Alexander: Well the Conservatives have to say something because they worked for years to get this deal, whether it was Boris Johnson or indeed Rishi Sunak and failed to get the deal and what we’ve seen today is Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Jonathan Reynolds delivering the deal that they failed to get. But on the substantive issue I think they are referring to the double contribution convention which is an agreement that’s in place which allows for workers who are here, highly skilled workers for a temporary basis. So they are being deployed from Indian companies working within the UK and that was part of the overall deal. But frankly the visa regime has not been changed. The points based system that we have in the United Kingdom remains the same. So I think the Conservatives frankly are grasping for straws given actually this is incredibly good news for the United Kingdom.

“I think the Conservatives frankly are grasping for straws given actually this is incredibly good news for the United Kingdom.”

– Douglas Alexander

Ciaran Jenkins: Meanwhile, the Labour Party is receiving criticism from within the Labour Party, in the fallout to last week’s local elections. No less than the First Minister of Wales wants you to rethink cuts to winter fuel payments. And she says the people paying the price at the moment are some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. I’m sure you’re familiar with the debate raging inside the Labour Party since last week elections. Why not rethink?

Douglas Alexander: Well, when you say some of the poorest people in society, I think of the 200,000 Scots in my part of the world who have benefited from an increase in the national minimum wage. I think about the employment rights package that’s been championed by this government that’s going to mean real money in people’s pockets. So in that sense, we are rebuilding our public services, we’re putting more money in people’s pockets. But none of us are denying that the change that we all want to see is going to take time after the ruinous inheritance that we saw from the last 14 years of Conservative government.

“None of us are denying that the change that we all want to see is going to take time after the ruinous inheritance that we saw from the last 14 years of Conservative government.”

– Douglas Alexander

Ciaran Jenkins: I just wonder, though, if you’re going to sort of sell this government on the premise of delivery, you know, so far this year we’ve had a year-to-date record on the number of people crossing the channel.

Douglas Alexander: Yes, and the Prime Minister has been very clear in terms of the establishment of a border command, treating these criminal gangs effectively – if you let me finish the sentence – treating these criminal gang effectively with the same kind of counter-terror legislation that we’ve used against terrorists. These are the right steps that I think people would broadly welcome. Of course, action is being undertaken. You would expect that from a government that’s been in power for, what, nine, ten months now.

Ciaran Jenkins: So why are the channel crossings going up, Minister, though?

Douglas Alexander: Because we’re putting in place the legislation, we’re establishing the border command, we are empowering the front line to take action, not just to deal at the border, but also to smash the criminal gangs that are supplying and supporting what’s effectively people trafficking across the channel. It’s a systemic approach being taken by a government that’s determined to get to grips with the issue.