Sunak to hand THOUSANDS of visas to India as PM set to make major migration concession
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Rishi Sunak is gearing up to hand thousands of visas to India
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Rishi Sunak is gearing up to hand thousands of visas to India
Rishi Sunak is gearing up to hand thousands of visas to India as part of a trade deal being negotiated between the two states.
The Government is set to sign off a trade agreement with India in the coming weeks, which could increase UK GDP by around £3.3bn by 2035.
But this is also likely to force the Government to give the goahead for thousands more arrivals.
The visa handout would be in exchange for the slashing of tariffs on UK goods going to India.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman is said to share the concerns over migration
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The two countries are heading into their 12th round of talks, with India hoping for the deal to be finalised by the end of 2023.
Talks will take place in September when Sunak heads to India for the G20 summit.
He is set to meet with Indian President Narendra Modi to seal the deal.
Conservative insiders, who spoke with the Sun, are said to be furious about the compromise, with Home Secretary Suella Braverman sharing the concerns.
One said: "We understand the Home Secretary shares our concerns but thinks this is a decision for the PM.”
MPs are understood to be preparing to put pressure on the Government to scrap the concession.
Boris Johnson gave MPs a vote on the Australia trade deal which was signed last year, something which could be pushed by backbenchers on the India issue.
Red Wall MPs in particualr are concerned about skyrocketing migration figures.
The latest figures - published in May - show that net migration has reached 606,000. This is more than six times the level the Conservatives promised.
The previous set of figures, published in November 2022, showed that net migration rose to 504,000 in the year to June 2022.
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Sunak will continue negotiations when he heads to India for the G20
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The figures are an increase from pre-Brexit immigration levels, with most of the migrants coming from non-EU countries.
Net migration for the year ending June 2015 - the year before the UK voted to leave the EU - was 336,000.