British government’s Department for International Trade (DIT) has confirmed it has neither produced nor seen any research on whether trade deal could have a negative impact on British workers and also have an effect on immigration from India
A view is gaining ground in Britain that the trade deal with India could jeopardise jobs of British workers. A report from breitbart.com points out that the British government’s Department for International Trade (DIT) – that incidentally is negotiating a trade deal with India — has confirmed it has neither produced nor seen any research on whether such a deal could have a negative impact on British workers and also have an effect on immigration from India.
Breitbart London asked the Department for International Trade, currently led by Kemi Badenoch MP, if it had commissioned any research considering whether free trade with India might result in work currently performed in Britain being outsourced to that country, given its lower wages, looser regulations, and enormous middle class. This request was made under the UK’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), requiring them to provide a substantive response, at least in theory, within 20 working days.
The fact that the British government has apparently not even considered whether an India trade agreement could harm British workers by encouraging outsourcing casts the ongoing debate over whether Britain should assent to increasing mass migration from the country of near-1.4 billion population in exchange for a deal into a new light
While government departments such as the Home Office, broadly responsible for policing, national security, and immigration, have a tendency to ignore their obligations under the Freedom of Information Act, the Department for International Trade did respond in a relatively timely fashion — confirming that it “has not produced any research considering whether free trade with India might result in work currently performed in Britain being outsourced to that country”.
The breitbart.com report mentions that the Department for International Trade has confirmed that it “has also not seen any research produced by any other government departments on this subject”. The fact that the British government has apparently not even considered whether an India trade agreement could harm British workers by encouraging outsourcing casts the ongoing debate over whether Britain should assent to increasing mass migration from the country of near-1.4 billion population in exchange for a deal into a new light.
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