UK dismisses idea that British workers being sold out in India trade deal

LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday dismissed the idea that he had sold out British workers by giving a tax break to some Indian workers as part of a free trade agreement with India, calling the claims “incoherent nonsense”.

The trade deal announced on Tuesday, which includes a range of tariff cuts on British imports to India, also exempts some short-term workers from India from paying into Britain’s social security system for three years.

The exemption under the so-called Double Contributions Convention (DCC) also applies to British workers in India, but while Britain barely made mention of this element of the trade deal, India hailed it as a “huge win”.

British opposition parties accused the government of signing up to a deal that would unfairly benefit India.

“Our India trade deal ... is good for British jobs. The criticism on the double taxation is incoherent nonsense,” Starmer told parliament. “It’s in the agreements that we’ve already got with 50 other countries.”

Britain has social security agreements with the European Union and countries including Switzerland, Canada, Japan and Chile, with some deals allowing for five-year exemptions, which ensure migrant workers are not taxed in two countries at one time. India also has similar agreements with other nations.