‘Whoever becomes UK PM’: Piyush Goyal on trade deal, ‘wait and watch’ stance

Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said he believes that whoever comes into the government in the United Kingdom will be wanting to engage with India.

And India, on the other hand, will wait and watch the political developments in Britain following Liz Truss’s resignation on Thursday. Liz Truss will stay in charge until her successor is elected by the Tory party. People familiar with the negotiations told HT that it is unlikely that the trade deal will be finalised before 2023. The earlier deadline of Diwali will clearly be missed, given the political situation.

The FTA with the UK is well on track, the minister said adding that politicians and businesses across the board in the UK recognised that it is very important for them also to do an FTA with India. “But I would believe that our FTAs with the UK, Canada, EU, one or two more we may launch soon, all that is well on track.”

“We will have to wait and see…what happens, whether they have a quick change of the leadership, whether it goes to the whole process…So let us see who comes into the government and what their views are. It’s only after that we will be able to formulate a strategy vis a vis the UK,” Goyal said. “So my own sense is that whoever comes into the government will be wanting to engage with us,” he added.

UK PM in her resignation speech said, “I came into office at a time of great economic and international instability. Families and businesses were worried about how to pay their bills, Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine threatens the security of our whole continent and our country has been held back for too long by low economic growth.” “I will remain as prime minister until a successor has been chosen. Thank you,” Truss added.