The UK-India FTA and the missed chance for justice

May 28, 2025

Kumar Nerlakanti and K Singh analyse a deal that will be remembered, not for what it achieved, but for what it ignored and enabled.

On the day the UK finalised its much-touted Free Trade Agreement with India, the Indian state launched an attack on Pakistan along with an ongoing broad crackdown on Kashmiri and Muslim civilians, without offering any evidence for the alleged role of Pakistan in the Pehelgam incident.

It was a moment thick with symbolism. While politicians in London and Delhi celebrated the deal as a “win-win,” those of us fighting for human rights, worker dignity, and international solidarity saw it for what it truly was: a missed opportunity to say enough is enough.

India Labour Solidarity has consistently raised concerns about this FTA. In our submission to the UK Government and Parliament, we highlighted the economic imbalances and the ethical and human rights crises that such a deal risks overlooking. Our model motion laid bare the truth: trade without justice is just another way to entrench inequality.

Yet that’s exactly what has happened. The deal went through, and with it, silence on the relentless attacks on workers, farmers, Adivasis (indigenous and tribal), oppressed castes and minorities in India and also any accountability of how the divisive politics of the region are now spilling out into the streets of the UK, as we have seen in Leicester.

There was also silence on the crackdown in Kashmir, the violence in Manipur, and the destruction in Bastar. Silence on the abuse of power, of crony capitalists like Adani displacing indigenous people, bulldozing forests in India, and setting up shop that assists in atrocities against Palestinian people (this behaviour is in line with the current Labour Government approving three times more weapons sales than previous years). This is the same Adani that’s been greenwashing its crimes by sponsoring science museums in the UK, while being investigated by financial watchdogs for major irregularities. Now, with the FTA in place, companies like Adani stand to gain even more, at the expense of people, land, and justice.

Similarly, this signing is a betrayal for Jagtar “Jaggi” Singh Johal’s family, who have been tirelessly campaigning, with Reprieve and over 100 MPs and peers, for Britain’s Government to pressure India for his release due to lack of evidence for his alleged funding of the assassination of far-right Hindu nationalists. Many believe he was targeted solely for his online activism in documenting human rights abuses in India against Sikhs in 1984 and onwards. He has even been acquitted in his first trial, many years after his arrest, yet remains imprisoned on similar charges.

Gurpreet Singh Johal, a Labour councillor, has denounced the inaction of consecutive British Governments on his brother’s arbitrary imprisonment and has specifically stated that he believes Britain is prioritising an FTA over his brother’s life. The fact that this has now been signed while a British citizen remains imprisoned in India – despite the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention having found this case to be a breach of Jaggi’s human rights and calling for his release and compensation – shows that Gurpreet was right.

Douglas McAllister, a Labour MP, had asked for the FTA negotiations to include the demand for Jaggi’s release. It seems he was completely overlooked, which could reasonably be interpreted as further evidence of both racial bias and financial considerations influencing when the British Government chooses to prioritize the welfare of its own citizens.

This signing has been opposed by Indian farmers’ unions who gained global fame during their 2020-2022 struggle against the neoliberal farm laws. The farmers’ unions specifically stated that this treaty was signed without appropriate parliamentary scrutiny and, particularly, despite opposition from fish workers and cattle farmers, as well as farmers.

Dr Dhawale of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha was quoted by The Hindu newspaper as saying that, regarding reduced tariffs enabling dumping in India’s markets: “This will act against the interest of farmers, fish workers and micro, small and medium enterprises that are engaged in food processing. In the past, all such free trade agreements, both bilateral and multilateral, have failed the Indian farmers and small industries.”

Pavel Kussa of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) was quoted as saying this trade deal will tighten the “imperial grip” on India which “has created hurdles in our development. Now, more foreign products will be dumped here. This reminds us of the East India Company’s colonial rule over India. The Union Government wants to hand over the country’s markets to imperialist rulers yet again.”

While the Indian Government may claim they’ve avoided concessions on sensitive agricultural products, the farmers’ unions are right to be vigilant. This deal undoubtedly signals that the Government continues to define national interest based on corporate interests and the mythology of trickle-down economics, rather than rural and producing communities, as the unions define it. Our submission to EFRA (the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee) covered some of the concerns highlighted by the farmers.

Both Governments have been willing to sign a deal despite unresolved disputes and underlying issues of rural poverty and exploitation under unfair global and local rules on agriculture. Regarding ongoing disputes in India, it must be noted that despite a drop in global attention, the farmers’ struggle is ongoing, due to the state’s betrayal of previous agreements with the farmers. However, this time protestors have been prevented from crossing internal state borders and reaching Delhi as they did last time. On 20th March this year, the longstanding protest sites at these state borders were bulldozed, and hundreds of protestors were arrested. Such matters of democratic principle ought to be of central importance in any deal signed by Britain with India. It is telling that India’s government is capable of making deals with Britain but not with its citizens, whose demands are suppressed with force.

Importantly, Delhi’s neoliberal attack on agriculture is understood by the farmers’ movement as part of a wider imperialist pressure on Global South producers. Hence, a consistent demand of the movement has been withdrawal from the World Trade Organisation and suspension of all FTAs under the Agreement on Agriculture. As Sukhwinder Kaur – the Punjab state general secretary of BKU (Krantikari) – put it, the WTO’s “Agreement on Agriculture caters only to the interests of imperialist monopolies, while depriving India of its economic sovereignty, and ensnaring us, farmers, to lose our autonomy as agricultural producers.”

She has faced repression and intimidation for her peaceful organising. The Indian Government has ignored all opposition to the unfair global trade regime and has shown again by signing this deal that they represent the interests of local and global corporate interests, and not the working people of India.

Meanwhile, the British government is predictably continuing a tradition of masking exploitation as ‘free trade’ despite the supposed fairness of these neocolonial agreements being debunked and rejected by people’s movements across the Global South and development experts across the world. In relation to this, India Labour Solidarity have an upcoming webinar “Ongoing farmers struggles in India: interrogating caste, class and gender” on farmers’ struggle on 30th May at 12:30pm, and you can register for it by bit.ly/PunjabFarmers or can catch up on our YouTube.

Amid all this, much was made of the reduction of tariffs on Scotch whisky and gin, one of the most celebrated aspects of the deal in the UK press. But there was no consideration of the devastating social impact of alcohol abuse in India, particularly in rural and marginalised communities, where it has deepened poverty, fuelled gender-based violence, and stretched already crumbling public healthcare systems. This is at a time when India’s public health infrastructure is under immense pressure and ill-equipped to deal with a spike in alcohol-related harm.

According to India’s National Family Health Survey, over a quarter of men in many states consume alcohol regularly, and studies have shown high correlations between alcohol use and domestic violence, debt, and poor health outcomes. The World Health Organisation has also linked alcohol to thousands of deaths in India, whether from road accidents, cancer (alcohol is a recognised Group 1 carcinogen), liver cirrhosis, or other health issues.

For this to be a bragging point of the agreement exposes the hypocrisy of the BJP and also that British capital is still operating within the same mentality as the time of the Opium Wars. This is because in much of Indian society, alcohol is not as normalised or socially accepted as it is in sections of British/urban/Western society. This is reflected in the fact that several states in India, notably including Gujarat – Indian PM Narendra Modi’s own home state and a BJP base – ban alcohol. Other states in India have varying degrees of regulation, and alcohol is a contentious issue across India to a greater degree than it is in some Western countries. This is also why Sikh organisations pushed Boris Johnson into a public apology for making jokes about alcohol exports in a Sikh gurdwara after a lady there told him it was firstly not the appropriate place to do so, and secondly that alcoholism had caused harm in her family.

The absence of any public health safeguards or commitments from the Scotch whisky industry, which benefits from the reduced tariffs as part of the deal, makes a mockery of claims that it is rooted in sustainable development. For the socially conservative BJP, who boast of its “Make in India” initiatives, to be signing a deal that seems to centre on alcohol imports exposes that they are ultimately answerable to global capital, and this can take priority even over their Hindutva.

We are relieved that the worst fears around access to generic medicines in the NHS may not have materialised in this agreement, according to the comments by the Pharma Industry which were lobbying heavily for it, a rare exception in a sea of problems. But the deal still fails to address the quality of drugs being exported. Substandard medicines and opiods manufactured in India continue to cause devastation in countries across Africa, and this issue remains unscrutinised, despite mounting evidence.

It is worth recalling that the COVID vaccine brought the longstanding debates about the neocolonial and counterproductive nature of the global patents regime and TRIPS (the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), as campaigned on by groups such as Global Justice Now, to global attention. We are glad to see this intellectual property-hoarding regime has not been deepened but it is a shame that this intellectual property regime, which exists to harm the interests of the Global South, is committed to being legitimised.

Meanwhile, in the UK, right-wing politicians have begun to weaponize the bilateral agreement to serve their own agendas. Indian workers, who already pay twice for access to public services through NHS surcharges and receive limited social protections, gained some relief through the FTA. However, this progress has met with a backlash. Right-wing voices have used the agreement as a dog whistle, portraying Indian workers as being favoured over British workers and calling for a reversal of these provisions. This reaction persists even though similar benefits are already extended to workers from over 50 other countries.

While the Indian government is celebrating this agreement as a diplomatic win, it has remained notably silent on the harmful consequences of the UK government’s proposed subsequent immigration policy changes through its white paper on immigration. These include:Extending the settlement route from five to ten years, prolonging periods of insecure status and exploitative work conditions without access to social security.
Reducing the tenure of graduate visas to just 18 months, limiting opportunities for post-study work, and integration.
Restricting care workers’ rights to bring family members, undermining family unity, and support systems.
Escalating hostile rhetoric from senior political figures, which fuels xenophobia and worsens the environment for migrants amid the rise of right-wing politics.

The continuation of the Hostile Environment policy by the Labour government has placed significant strain on the well-being of Indian migrants. Measures such as elevated income thresholds for spousal visas are separating families who have found love in the UK and wish to build a life together. Additionally, the rising cost of visa applications adds further pressure. This represents a missed opportunity for the Indian Government to advocate more strongly for the rights of its diaspora.

Perhaps most insidiously, this FTA has given cover to a new form of soft power and propaganda. Across party lines, we are witnessing the rise of ‘Friends of India’ groups and think tanks often funded by or aligned with regime-friendly entities that serve as the PR arm of the Indian government. These groups speak the language of democracy and development, but what they legitimise is repression: against trade unions, farmers’ movements, human rights activists, journalists and religious minorities, and the caste oppressed. They cheerlead for a government that jails students and lets lynch mobs run free.

The UK had a chance. It could have made human rights a red line. It could have demanded protections for workers, for press freedom, for Adivasi land. It could have put justice at the heart of trade. Instead, it chose silence.

This deal will be remembered not for what it achieved, but for what it ignored and enabled.

Now that Governments are lining up to align with a Hindutva fascist government that bans BBC documentaries about i’s own ethnic cleansing in Gujarat, it is more important than ever for movements of the world to stand with the people’s movements, activists, and dissenting journalists of South Asia.

Kumar Nerlakanti and K Singh are organisers with India Labour Solidarity.

Image: Indian farmers protest, December 2020. Source: Provided by eMail from Randeep Maddoke. Author: Randeep Maddoke; randeepphotoartist@gmail.com, made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication