BRITAIN and India are on track to sign an “amazing deal within a year”, Kemi Badenoch vows today.
The Trade Secretary is traveling to Delhi to “reboot” crunch talks.
Ministers are preparing to make it easier for business leaders to be able to travel to Britain, with time-limited visas instead for highly qualified workers
But she will not discuss demands for thousands more student visas for locals.
Ms Badenoch will attempt to personally smooth relations with her counterpart, Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal.
It comes after Home Secretary Suella Braverman sparked a backlash by saying Indians are the biggest group of overstayers on their visas.
Former leadership contender Kemi told Trending In The News the UK is on course to be the first G7 nation to sign a historic accord which will open up Britain’s business to millions of people in India’s middle class markets.
And she will fight to slash eye-watering tariffs and open up opportunities for the UK’s financial and legal services sectors.
Boris Johnson wanted to seal a bumper deal but it was kiboshed by political upheaval in Britain and stalled talks.
Ministers are preparing to make it easier for business leaders to be able to travel to Britain, with time-limited visas instead for highly qualified workers.
Ms Badenoch said: “There is an amazing deal to be done in a year. No deal like this has been done before, it’s going to be great for the UK.”
She said there were no plans to discuss student visas as part of the sixth round of talks — and played down suggestions the Home Secretary had derailed discussions.
But she hopes Rishi Sunak’s Indian heritage could help to smooth the way to a deal.
Kemi said: “Obviously there’s a lot of warm feelings towards him. It all helps.”
