Just days after Reform’s catastrophic defeat of Labour in its heartlands such as Durham and Doncaster, the Prime Minister has made his latest fatal error.
His new trade deal with India has sold out British workers to the highest degree. He has undercut, sidelined and betrayed them, and chosen to prioritise Indian arrivals instead.
The devil is in the detail.
Indians who are transferred to work in Britain by their employers will receive an exemption to National Insurance for at least three years.
This is extraordinary. As ordinary Britons face tax rises and UK employers are being asked to fork out more in National Insurance contributions, Indian workers are getting a free pass.
And it gets worse. There is no cap. No limit.
Around half a million Indians have arrived in the UK in the past two years – and this deal will throw the doors open even wider, giving new arrivals a massive financial advantage over the people who have built and supported this country all their lives.
In Starmer’s Britain, people who have grown up here, worked hard, paid their taxes and propped up the economy are effectively being asked to pay to put themselves out of work. It is nothing short of a betrayal of working people in this country.
Just days after Reform’s catastrophic defeat of Labour in its heartlands such as Durham and Doncaster, the Prime Minister has made his latest fatal error, says Nigel Farage
Sir Keir Starmer’s new trade deal with India has sold out British workers to the highest degree and India’s Prime minister Narendra Modi (right) can’t believe his luck
After this deal, it will become 20 per cent cheaper to employ an Indian worker over a British one.
Even the Conservatives with their sell-out of British farmers in order to secure trade deals with Australia and New Zealand could not bring themselves to make a pact like this.
Prime minister Narendra Modi can’t believe his luck. He stalled the previous Conservative government, knowing that a soft-touch Labour administration was on the horizon, and gambled that it would capitulate – and so it did.
And to top this all off, there is no impact assessment or analysis of costs. We have no idea how many more Indians will enter the UK as a result of this deal.
Either the Government has failed to do the bare minimum due diligence, or, more likely, ministers have seen the figures and knew the uproar would be immense.
Meanwhile, senior former Home Office officials are reportedly in despair.
And they should be. This isn’t just bad policy – it’s a clear signal that British workers are not a priority for Keir Starmer.
Whether it’s this disastrous deal, overseeing the decimation of steel-making in Wales, or hiking up taxes on small businesses, this government frankly doesn’t give a damn.
Starmer’s capitulation may please overseas leaders and big business – but tax cuts for foreign workers and tax rises for everyone else will be the final straw for many.
Reform UK is now clearly the party of British workers.
