UK Opposition leader’s ‘many Diwalis gone’ barb over free trade deal with India

The UK’s Opposition Labour Party leader David Lammy on Monday criticised the ruling Conservatives and appeared to take a jibe at former Prime Minister Boris Johnson for failing to close the long-awaited Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India.

“Many Diwalis have come and gone without a trade deal and too many businesses have been left waiting,” Lammy, who is the Labour Party’s shadow foreign secretary, said in his address at the India Global Forum (IGF).

His comment was in reference to the missed Diwali 2022 deadline set by Boris Johnson for the FTA.

David Lammy also described India as a “priority” for the Labour Party and an economic, technological and cultural “superpower”.

“With Labour, the days of Boris Johnson reciting that old verse from Rudyard Kipling in Asia are over. If I recite a poem in India, it will be Tagore…because with a superpower like India, the areas of cooperation and the areas for learning are limitless,” the Labour Party leader said.

David Lammy also had a message for Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Trade Minister Piyush Goyal, saying that his Labour Party is “ready to go” strike up a deal if his side wins the July 4 general elections.

“Let’s finally get our free trade deal done and move on,” Lammy said, adding he will be in Delhi before the end of July.

David Lammy also criticised the governing Conservatives for having “overpromised and under delivered” on ties with India. He also put forth his ambitions of the FTA being a “floor not a ceiling” of the partnership he aspires to with his “friend” Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

India and the UK have completed 13 rounds of FTA negotiations since talks began in January 2022 to enhance the estimated Great British Pound 38.1 billion a year trading relationship. The 14th round of discussions opened on January 10.

During his speech, David Lammy also drew parallels with the shared democratic values in both India and the UK as he congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his record third term.

“I deeply believe that India’s democratic elections, with almost a billion voters, are the most important statement, the most important validation, not only of the democratic ideal but of democratic practice in today’s world. This is something that binds us together,” Lammy said.

The UK Labour Party leader also flagged climate change as one of the key areas of collaboration, saying the UK stood in solidarity with India through the soaring temperatures in the country that has led to multiple deaths.

“There can be no energy transition without an Indian energy transition. India is the indispensable partner, not only to Britain but the whole developed world,” he noted.

Guyanese-heritage also recalled his Indian connection, saying his “great-grandmother was Indian from Calcutta” who went to the Caribbean as an “indentured labourer”. His reminiscence followed his praises of the British Indians for their “extraordinary contribution” and without whom, Lammy said, “it would be hard to even imagine modern Britain”.

“India contributes so much to British prosperity already. Last year, India was our second-largest foreign direct investment contributor…but it could be so, so much more as India is only our twelfth-largest trade partner,” David Lammy said.

The talks on the FTA are currently stalled with the general elections in the UK next year, and the polls recently concluded in India. In March, PM Modi and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak conversed over the phone, in which the two leaders discussed an early conclusion of a “mutually beneficial Free Trade Agreement”.