The Prime Minister has sparked a fiery row over his latest "two-tier" move, after being accused of undercutting British workers to seal a £5billion trade deal with India.Under the agreement, potentially tens of thousands of Indian workers on short-term visas will be completely exempt from paying National Insurance in Britain for three years, making them potentially cheaper to hire - despite National Insurance contributions for British firms being increased in last year's Budget.FULL STORY HERE.
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00:00Jonathan, I mean, the accusation here is that it's going to be easier and cheaper for Indian workers to come over to the UK.
00:06We know we give out hundreds of thousands of workers to worker visas to Indians already.
00:12If this isn't some massive win for India in terms of making their businesses more competitive rather than our own,
00:19why is the Indian prime minister and the Indian administration tweeting about it,
00:24putting out press releases saying this is going to make Indian companies in the United Kingdom more competitive?
00:31It certainly does. That's the whole point of a free trade agreement is that it is win-win for both countries.
00:36But the analysis actually shows...
00:37I'm talking about workers. Workers. Why is this more beneficial to Indian workers in this country?
00:43The reality is it's not. And I've got to say to James, we have these arrangements,
00:49these exact double taxation arrangements with 50 other countries.
00:53Is it now a reform policy that you plan to tear up these arrangements for these 50 countries,
00:58including the United States of America? I'm sure Donald Trump wouldn't be terribly happy about that.
01:03You can't just pick and choose when you decide to get annoyed about something.
01:07If you are against...
01:08Well, absolutely you can.
01:08If you are... Let me finish. If you are against the double taxation principle that you've just outlined,
01:14then you have to be against it consistently.
01:17And if you're going to tell me that you are against it consistently,
01:19that means ripping up the UK-US tax trade deal right now. Are you prepared to say you're going
01:25to do that?
01:26Well, let's take that seriously and look at it quite closely. This is a new trade agreement,
01:30and it was our opportunity to set the terms. Even the Conservative government, which have done
01:35appallingly, had the good sense not to sign it. But unfortunately, Keir Starmer has.
01:39So we are looking at a two-tier tax system. Now, if you think that's the free market,
01:46I have a bridge to sell you. Again, this is the problem. You can't just attach the words
01:52two-tier to everything and call it a policy. The trade deal, if you look at the detail,
01:57increases British firms' exports by 60%. That is good for British business. It's good for British
02:04workers. Trying to attach the words two-tier to everything and calling it a policy is not going
02:09to get you very far.
02:11Jonathan, the Labour government has promised to bring down immigration. Yes?
02:15Will, does this trade deal with India make it more or less likely that immigration from
02:21India is going to come down?
02:23It has no impact whatsoever, because as you've already said on your show, if the Home Office
02:27does not like the number of people coming across from any particular country, they can
02:31simply put a cap on visas.
02:32Well, hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on. No, Indians are now able to apply for 33 different
02:36work sectors via the Global Business Mobility Visa, up from 15. This also includes things like
02:43yoga instructors, musicians, Indian chefs, etc. So are we banking on the Home Office,
02:48essentially putting some kind of cap on? Are we going to have a cap on Indian visas? What's going on?
02:53As I just said, it's the Home Office's duty to deal with immigration. This has nothing to do with
02:59immigration. If the Home Office thinks the numbers are too high, they can cap it. If as a result of
03:04what's going here, numbers start to increase in a way that the Home Office doesn't like,
03:07they can cap it. Personally, I don't think that's going to happen, because what's underpinning this
03:11is the complete misinformation. All you hear from reform is, whatever the issue is,
03:16two-tier this, two-tier that, that's our policy. I'm talking to the businesses who are about to
03:22start to see their exports go up by 60%, billions and billions and billions into the pockets of British
03:29businesses as a result of this deal done yesterday.