India and the UK have been in dialogue to ink a free trade agreement for some time now. Andy Street, the mayor of the West Midlands region of the UK is hopeful that a deep free trade deal between the two countries will be done soon. The West Midlands region already has a large south Asian diaspora and many Indian companies have invested there, like Tata-owned Jaguar, Land Rover and Mahindra & Mahindra, which has opened a design centre there. Street, who was on an India visit, with a delegation from West Midlands, spoke with THE WEEK on the potential areas of partnerships, and the importance of a trade deal among other things.
Q. What are your key priorities on this India visit?
The main priority is to identify the areas where either side-- India or the West Midlands has something the other can benefit from that set. And so I want to stress right at the beginning, this is a two-way piece. And therefore, we're looking at the sectors where we have got a lot in common. So whether it be the electrification of vehicles, whether it be the life sciences, research and med-tech, or whether it be the whole clean growth piece, working towards net zero... different things where there are common things we can work on, and then share our activities. So for example, in Hyderabad, some of the companies (in healthcare, med-tech) there are working with our universities, looking at the research they're doing that can actually then be adapted into their programs here.
Q. If an Indian investor were to look at investing in the UK what is so unique about West Midlands that the person should go there?
We are not coming and saying we can do every sector. It's about sectors. If we were talking about chemicals or agriculture, we would not be leading in that. So, the first is we've chosen certain areas where we are really very, very good. And that's what we are offering. The second thing is actually to say, look how this has already been very successful for a number of companies, which actually should give confidence to others. And the third thing that I think does make us distinct, actually, is the quality of the talent and the training, particularly from our universities in a number of our key areas. So we actually have more graduates, for example, in the engineering disciplines than anywhere outside London, and in some of the real specific niches within engineering, the most graduates. So it's the quality of the workforce in the key sectors.
Q. Post Brexit how have things changed and how are these deals and dialogues important?
Post-Brexit, of course, we are free to do our free trade deals anywhere around the world. I'm not going to get on to whether Brexit was a good or a bad thing. But that is obviously a change that we now have. We wouldn't have been able to be even enter into the free trade negotiation with India before. And so my fervent hope is that a very good deal will be done, a very deep deal. So obviously, we want to see the trade, the tariff barriers reduced, and they're quite punitive both ways at the moment, actually. The second thing that we want to see is much more exchange between our universities, frankly, because there could be an opportunity indeed, for British universities to be setting up bases here. I could go on... But this is a new opportunity for us to explore that bilateral relationship.
Q. The free trade deal has been hanging around for some time now. While talks have resumed now, how confident are you that this deal will happen very soon?
I cannot know how soon it will be. What I do know, is that there has been an utter will from (former) Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and indeed, from Prime Minister Modi, to get this done. And we now see exactly the same from the new prime minister (Rishi Sunak). And obviously, he's got an Indian heritage. So you could say he'll be even more motivated. But we heard from our trade commissioner, to say there's an absolute determination to get that deal done.
Q. How will this trade deal improve investments and partnerships between India and UK?
Tariff barriers come down. There is always more business done between areas where there is less tariff barrier. I think that's in the university piece as well, the liberalization there. We talked to the politicians here and there is a real desire to tap into some of the expertise in some of our universities. Just a small example. You have a huge building of infrastructure here. It's incredible just to see what's going on. And we have faculties within our universities that are looking at real expertise, for example, in rail engineering, another area where the University of Wolverhampton is very, very strong. Cybersecurity is a huge area where you're developing a good leadership position. So I think the general thing I've taken is we've got some intellectual capital that would be valuable. And frankly, you've got applied expertise as well. So that is an opportunity there.
Q. On one hand everybody sounds confident about a trade deal happening. But, the kind of commentary that came from the Home Secretary in Britain (about Indian migrants being the largest number of visa overstayers), which was not too comfortable, right?
Yes, you're right. And I know that caused a lot of offence. It's fair to call out how these comments that Suella Braverman made reflect. I understand that people here felt that they were inappropriate. And a lot of people in Britain thought they were inappropriate as well. But, equally, I am convinced that the Prime Minister and those in the trade department are not going to allow that to scupper a very deep, deep relationship over many, many decades. And frankly, one politician's observations in one moment shouldn't scupper that.
Q. How big is Indian investment currently in West Midlands?
It’s huge. We've got the full figures for 2020, actually 57 per cent of inward investment into the UK, came to the West Midlands. And I think India was the second country as far as we were concerned, after the USA. So that just talks about how far this has already come.
