London: As the UK prepares for a new Labour Party leader who will go on to replace Keir Starmer as Prime Minister, one of his ministers has stressed that the stability of Britain’s relationship with India will hold firm through the political transition.
Kanishka Narayan, the India-born Minister for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Starmer’s top team, addressed the inaugural India All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) celebration in the Houses of Parliament complex earlier this week.
The event came soon after Starmer announced his resignation on the steps of 10 Downing Street, paving the way for a leadership shift that looks set for former Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham to be elected unopposed next month.
“The question being asked is one of policy continuity in a slightly transitioning political moment; on this question, I feel absolutely convinced that the stability of the depth of our relationship (with India) is a stability we’ll continue to see in the months and years ahead,” said Labour MP Narayan.
“I think that’s not just as a matter of personal faith, but as a matter of clear evidence as well… The Labour Party has been a deep friend of India for a significant period of time, right from the very outset as a big champion in support of Indian independence, all the way through successive periods of history as well.
“That continues to be the case of the party that didn’t just promise a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by Diwali, but delivered it well in advance of the Diwali that we promised it by as well and have since ratified it,” he said.
Narayan, the first MP of Indian heritage to be elected from Wales in the July 2024 general election, went on to highlight the personal connections of the bilateral partnership that underpin the relationship.
“As a Welsh MP, it would be remiss of me not to reflect on the much more vernacular local history that ties us together as well. William Jones, a Welsh scholar of Sanskrit, said ‘Nowhere in the world, apart from perhaps the exception of Welsh, was there a more beautiful language than Sanskrit’… the stories of the Welsh-Indian connections I feel are too little told,” he stated.
The cross-party celebration of the India-UK FTA, supported by the UK’s Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and delivered by the 1928 Institute think tank, was hosted by India APPG co-chairs Labour MP Baggy Shankar and House of Lords peer Karan Bilimoria, and president Baroness Sandy Verma.
“Our Free Trade Agreement is a brilliant milestone in the partnership, cementing the relationship between our two countries and marking the biggest trade deal of its size ever done by India,” said Shankar.
Lord Bilimoria spoke of the immense potential opened up by the India-UK Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA).
“Tiny Switzerland is the 10th largest trading partner of the UK and India is only the 11th largest trading partner. Come on, we should be one of the handful of largest trading partners… that is my ambition, that after the CETA, we will be able to double the almost 50 billion pounds to almost 100 billion pounds in a very short period of time,” he said.
India’s Deputy High Commissioner to the UK, Kartik Pande, noted in his address that the bilateral partnership transcended government-to-government cooperation.
“The India-UK relationship is not sustained by government alone, but is enriched by parliamentarians, businesses, universities, cultural institutions, and above all, the people who connect our nations every day,” he said.
The India APPG celebration of the bilateral ties is expected to become an annual feature in the UK’s parliamentary calendar, with the FTA ratification seen as a launchpad.
“As someone who is very proud of both their British heritage and Indian heritage, and as someone who is a member of Parliament for Leicester East, I witness first-hand every single day the immense contributions made by the Indian diaspora to our country, from entrepreneurship to innovation to public service and community leadership,” said Shivani Raja, Conservative Party MP and Vice-Chair of the India APPG.