Thread: Cameron to offer India a direct say in immigration policy

Looks like the flood gates are going to get opened even further.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jul/28/david-cameron-india-immigration?CMP=AFCYAH

David Cameron is to offer India a direct say in drawing up Britain's new immigration policy as Downing Street responds to fears in New Delhi that a proposed cap will harm trade links.

In a sign of what the prime minister will today describe as a new "spirit of humility" towards India, Downing Street is making it clear that Britain will consult Delhi over a proposed new cap on non-EU immigration.

Cameron's trip to India, which he will launch today with a speech to business leaders in the hi-tech centre of Bangalore, had threatened to be overshadowed by concerns in Delhi about the cap.

Anand Sharma, the Indian commerce minister, told the prime minister in Downing Street recently that the cap could have an "adverse effect" on trade relations. Sharma pointedly remarked that Indian professionals, "who have made a notable contribution to the UK economy", could find it difficult to enter Britain.

A Downing Street source said the prime minister was keen to offer reassurances to India. "We want to work with India and other countries to ensure that high-skilled people can still come to Britain," the source said. "We are going to talk to these countries about how to implement the cap."

The proposed cap on non-EU immigration has been the subject of heated debate within the cabinet. Vince Cable, the business secretary, and David Willetts, the universities minister, who are among six cabinet ministers accompanying the prime minister to India, have voiced concerns that the cap could exclude students and highly skilled workers.

Cable yesterday told Indian journalists of his unease. "It's no great secret that in my department, and me personally, we want to see an open economy and as liberal an immigration policy as it's possible to have," he told Hindu Business Online. "We are arguing, within government, about how we create the most flexible regime we can possibly have, but in a way that reassures the British public."

The measure comes into effect next April. Theresa May, the home secretary, has imposed a temporary cap of 24,100.

The emollient signals show how ministers accept they must show due respect to India, one of the world's fastest-growing economies, if Britain is to improve trade links, which currently stand at a relatively modest £11.5bn a year. Cameron will today ask India to reduce barriers to foreign investment in banking, insurance and defence manufacturing. This is a call Delhi is unlikely to heed if it feels its highly skilled citizens are being excluded from Britain.

The prime minister will today attempt to open a new chapter in relations with Delhi when he declares that Britain can no longer rely on links dating back to the days of the Raj. He hopes to create a new special relationship with India, the world's 12th-largest economy, by leading the largest official British delegation to the subcontinent since the end of the Raj. The chancellor, George Osborne, the foreign secretary, William Hague, and captains of industry are accompanying the prime minister, who will today witness the announcement by BAE of a £500m deal to build 57 Hawk trainer jets. They will be built in India by BAE's partner Hindustan Aeronautics.

In an article for today's Hindu newspaper, Cameron says he wants to forge a "stronger, deeper relationship" between Britain and India. But he adds: "I have come to your country in a spirit of humility. I know that Britain cannot rely on sentiment and shared history for a place in India's future.
"Your country has the whole world beating a path to its door. But I believe Britain should be India's partner of choice in the years ahead. Starting this week, that is what we are determined to deliver."

As India prepares to celebrate the 63rd anniversary of its independence from Britain next month, the prime minister says Europe needs to accept the shift of economic power to Asia. "India's economy is on an upward trajectory. In Britain, we're waking up to a new reality.
"For centuries my country assumed we could set the global economic pace. But economic power is shifting – particularly to Asia – so Britain has to work harder to earn its living in the world."

The prime minister will say that British entrepreneurs should turn their sights eastward. "In the US they used to say 'Go west, young man' to find opportunity and fortune. For today's entrepreneurs the real promise is in the east."
But Cameron will hail Britain's historic links with India, which continue to this day, as he makes a plea for the subcontinent not to abandon its former colonial ruler. "It's clear why India matters to Britain," Cameron writes in the Hindu. "But why should Britain matter to India? I believe our two countries are natural partners. We have deep and close connections among our people, with nearly two million people of Indian origin living in the UK. We share so much culturally, whether it's watching [the actor] Shah Rukh Khan, eating the same food or watching cricket."Downing Street believes the 90-strong delegation accompanying the prime minister is a major signal of intent. It includes the chief executive of Barclays, John Varley; the former Labour trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt, now of the UK-India Business Council; the former Hong Kong governor Lord Patten of Barnes, now chair of the UK-India roundtable; and the Olympians Lord Coe, Dame Kelly Holmes and Sir Steve Redgrave.

Guys a wanker and won't last long.

aren't you guys happy to have "elected" another wanker as PM

he sounds as effective as Thatcher

Doesn't the UK have its own highly skilled workers?

Originally Posted by jojo333

We share so much culturally, whether it's watching [the actor] Shah Rukh Khan,

This is just embarrassing grovelling, at least Thatcher had some backbone. They are saying capping immigration will harm trade, that's not true and sounds like blackmail. Still, rather Indians than Pakis, Hindu's have done well in the UK and integrate rather than sit around moaning and plotting to kill us. 99% of brits have never even heard of this actor, never mind seen one of his dreadful films.

Oh thats disapointing. I thought it said Cameroon

Originally Posted by Butterfly

aren't you guys happy to have "elected" another wanker as PM

he sounds as effective as Thatcher

Don't know if you are being sarcastic or not, but love her or hate her, the iron lady was extremely effective.

Originally Posted by Moonraker

Originally Posted by Butterfly

aren't you guys happy to have "elected" another wanker as PM

he sounds as effective as Thatcher

Don't know if you are being sarcastic or not, but love her or hate her, the iron lady was extremely effective.

Effective at what?
Causing the most civil unrest in Britain for 300 years.

Originally Posted by the dogcatcher

Originally Posted by Moonraker

Originally Posted by Butterfly

aren't you guys happy to have "elected" another wanker as PM

he sounds as effective as Thatcher

Don't know if you are being sarcastic or not, but love her or hate her, the iron lady was extremely effective.

Effective at what?
Causing the most civil unrest in Britain for 300 years.

It had to be done, and that coont Scargill was more to blame than Thatcher for the unrest.

I don't know much, but I do know that Thatcher was a complete twat.

Don't panic anyone. It'll all even out once the new crackdown on Thai and Filipino brides comes into force.

Originally Posted by Jet Gorgon

Doesn't the UK have its own highly skilled workers?

Yes , here they are.

Originally Posted by Chico the Fox

I don't know much, but I do know that Thatcher was a complete twat.

As you said in the first four words. Although her detractors claim she 'destroyed' UK industry they forget one of her first acts was to bail out British Leyland, think they were given something like 900 million, where are they now? Undoubtedly the greatest prime minister since wartime Churchill she saved UK from Union war lords, got the economy back on track after Labour almost bankrupted the place again and freed up the public sector. I can remember getting a BT phone the year before she can in, you could have two models, had to wait three months and it cost 95 quid! Her greatest policy, although it's true she had to be persuaded of it, was the right to buy public housing. Nothing in British history, apart from the voting acts, gave so much to the working class in the UK, overnight they had more than they could have saved in a life time. God bless the Baroness, I would not be here today with her achievements. Now look at what a madhouse the uk is after years of labour.