"India is keen to resume talks on a positive note, but the date needs clarity," the source told the newspaper. "My message to [Finance] Minister [Nirmala] Sitharaman and [Trade] Minister [Piyush] Goyal is that Labour is ready to go. Let's finally get our free trade deal done and move on," he said, lamenting former prime minister Boris Johnson's missed Diwali 2022 deadline. "With Labour, the days of Boris Johnson reciting that old verse from Rudyard Kipling in Asia are over. We are not looking at the FTA as a means to bring people to the UK, that is not the objective," he said.

Source: The Times July 21, 2024 15:50 UTC