“British Workers Come Last in Starmer’s Britain”: Employers Who Hire Indian Workers Given Major Tax Break in Labour Trade Deal
Keir Starmer has been accused of putting British workers last after it emerged that employers who hire Indian workers are to be given a major tax break under Labour’s new trade deal. The Mail has the story.
Sir Keir Starmer faced a furious backlash today after it emerged he is handing Indian workers in the UK and their employers a major tax exemption to secure a trade deal.
Delhi revealed that the terms mean Indian nationals on temporary visas and their firms will not have to pay ‘social security contributions’ for three years.
The agreement, which has been three years in the making, will see the UK lower tariffs on clothes, shoes and food from the subcontinent, in exchange for reciprocal cuts for products including whisky and cars.
But the tax break – which was omitted from the UK release on the pact – immediately provoked anger.
It comes as UK firms have been hit with a rise in national insurance contributions (NICS) that many warn will force them to slash jobs or even shut down.
Tory frontbencher Robert Jenrick said: “British workers come last in Starmer’s Britain.”
Last month the rate of employer NICS went up by 1.2 percentage points from 13.8% to 15%, despite calls for a U-turn at a time of poor economic growth.
The tax break was not mentioned by Downing Street in its announcement today. But a statement by the Indian Government said it would “lead to significant financial gains for the Indian service providers and enhance their competitiveness in the UK market that would create new job opportunities as well as benefit large number of Indians working in the UK”.
Questions also remain over what agreement has been made on other visas for Indian nationals wanting to study or work in the UK.
That was a key sticking point that held up talks under the previous Conservative Government and Labour.
Sir Keir said there were “tough negotiations on both sides” over the issue of visas.
He also promised the trade deal with India included “the best set of arrangements” to safeguard key British industrial sectors.
Jenrick points out that the trade deal means Indian workers in the UK for less than three years will not pay National Insurance – at a time when Starmer has just hiked NI for everyone else. This will only incentivise employers to hire from India rather than the UK, despite public concerns over immigration and Starmer pledging to bring numbers down.
Worth reading in full.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has branded the deal “two-tier taxes from two-tier Keir”. She tweeted:
This is two-tier taxes from two-tier Keir. I refused to sign this deal because: 1) Tax refunds for Indians not available to us; 2) Visa requests too high; 3) Ceramics and aluminium industries would be screwed. When Labour negotiates Britain loses.
The Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds defended the agreement, saying the exemptions only apply to a “specific” type of worker, not all Indian workers in the UK. The Telegraph has more.
National Insurance exemptions under the UK-India free trade agreement will only apply to a “specific” type of worker, the Business Secretary has said.
Jonathan Reynolds said some people were “getting a little bit carried away as to what this actually means”, following the announcement of the deal.
Mr Reynolds said: “We have agreed a double contributions convention with India at three years.
“Now this, just to be clear, is something we have with a great deal of countries already.
“We have 17 of these agreements with the EU, with South Korea, with the US and a whole range of partners, and what it is about is making sure when people are inter-company transfers between the UK and India – so for our people in India and Indian people in the UK – they don’t simultaneously pay into both social security systems.
“So I think some people are getting a little bit carried away as to what this actually means, but it means that when our people are moved by a company to India they will be paying into the UK system and not the Indian system, and when Indian people are temporarily in the UK they’ll be paying into their system and not to ours.
“But it’s very specific as to who this applies to and obviously [if] people were in the UK they would still be paying income tax, they would still be paying, for instance, the health surcharge and they wouldn’t be eligible for benefits from the national insurance system.”
The agreement does not apply to all Indian workers in the UK.
Conservative Shadow Business Minister Dame Harriett Baldwin said the trade deal is “subsidising Indian labour while undercutting British workers”.
She told the Commons: “This deal is indeed a landmark moment for the UK in terms of its global trading relationships, and it is the largest trade deal secured by this country, and I was therefore shocked that the minister didn’t acknowledge that progression of this deal was only possible thanks to our Brexit freedoms.”
Speaking about the change to national insurance provision for Indian workers coming to Britain and British workers in India, she said: “A double contribution convention will come at a significant cost to the British taxpayer and to British businesses.
“It means workers who have entered into the UK under this convention are eligible to only pay national insurance contributions in their home country, in this case, India.”
Dame Harriett also said: “Can the Minister outline what the cost is of this agreement on the Treasury? How many British nationals does the Government anticipate making use of these reciprocal rights in India, because I fear we have gone from ‘two-tier Keir’ to ‘two-tier taxes Keir’ for British workers?
“This Government is literally putting up taxes for British workers, but cutting them for Indian workers.”
She concluded: “This deal looks like it’s subsidising Indian labour while undercutting British workers. Can the Government back our domestic market by scrapping its job tax?”
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So my taxes are already subsidising low skilled, low paid migration from around the world and now they will have to subsidise even more. On what planet can this even be equitable? Starmer really hates his own doesn’t he.
On what planet can this even be equitable?
Planet Great Replacement.
Tax-breaks for the Great Replacement. Who’d have thought …
And globalisation is supposed to be dead.
Talk about tin-eared.
The guy’s beyond belief. Is he actually human? Or some skanky Chinese made talking bedpan emptier magically become PM by accident?
— “But no Indigenous Briton wants a trade deal with India, or anything at all to do with India, because they’re all sick to the back teeth of India and Indians swarming into this small island nation! The voters will destroy us at the next election!”
— “Not to worry, comrade! Their votes are miniscule compared to the Commonwealth Voting Rights, and Smirking Old Modi will make sure that All of the Incoming Horde, and All of the Millions of Indians already here, vote Labour. We will win every time, and we will remain in power indefinitely! It’s what we Communists do best.”
You would almost think India wants to get rid of people as it always wants more visas.
Trying to look on the bright side at least most Indians are Hindu who share far more of our values than Muslims, integrate pretty well and don’t become suicide bombers. If this deal encourages firms to hire people from India rather than Pakistan, Afghanistan etc. it might be a very small step in the right direction.
Do they integrate? They dress like Indians, act like Indians, interact with other indians. They are not Anglo Celtic. They are not English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish. They are not native. Imagine the outrage if white British people were MPs in the Indian parliament. There’d be riots every day.
This is my people’s land. It belongs to us. My ancestors bones are buried here, not theirs. This is an unarmed invasion aided and abetted by communist minded traitors to our people.
The bloody Civil war can’t come soon enough for me.
It depends on how you define integrate. They certainly don’t try to impose their values on the rest of us or have obnoxious values such as treating women as 3rd class citizens, believing in forced marriage, female genital mutilation etc. so does it really matter how they dress or worship their gods?
Obviously it would be better if companies employed British workers in jobs based in Britain but Hindus are the next best thing and infinitely preferable to Muslims.
That’s like saying one type of termite eating up your house is slightly better than another type of termite eating up your house, both types deliberately imported by the government to eat up your house, and make you and your family go live in the garden shed.
No, because Hindus & Muslims have already brought their ancient foreign conflicts with them to the British Isles, and this new swarm of Hindus, in addition to the Islamic Horde swarming in, will only help them fight their battles with each other in British towns.
On the good side, Indian’s are Hindu predominantly, and they are good workers. The agreement means we become less dependent on China.
On the bad side, this is a slap in the face for everyone else, and we become more dependent on India.
Hmm…
Pure unadulterated racism and as institutional as it comes. A prime example of why the debate about whether the UK is institutionally racist vanished over the past few years!
Filthy traitors. Anti white British, racist scumbags. They are immigrant helpers and Muhammdan toilet cleaners I hate Labour. I hate the very air they breathe.
My people are being destroyed by these evil communists. The Great Civil War will resolve all problems.
“We have 17 of these agreements with the EU, with South Korea, with the US and a whole range of partners, and what it is about is making sure when people are inter-company transfers between the UK and India – so for our people in India and Indian people in the UK – they don’t simultaneously pay into both social security systems.”
So in the 17 “agreements” the foreign employee doesn’t pay into the system but all the relatives they bring can take full advantage of our benefits? 2TK really wants that job in EU/WEF doesn’t he.
Seems that this agreement means that wage is not taxed in the country it was earned?
So if an Indian worker and his family move to England to work, do they get the benefits such as free health care and dentistry?
Does this apply to all Indian workers who get a work visa from now on?
Or does it only apply to Indian workers temporarily seconded to an U.K. branch of an Indian company.
I know that the NL government incentivised workers from the UK for a while by having them pay less tax. That scheme has now closed.
India is gaining success because it excludes however and whenever it can products from other countries, Trade Deal or no trade deal. I have had experience of this from a few years ago, but I think the basic principle remains. As a result lauding a trade deal with India which has far cheaper energy and labor cost than us is just opening a door for cheap imports that will undercut anything we can produce ourselves. We should not be making concessions to India to allow this and the fact that we are just demonstrates how incompetent this Labour Party is. However, it might be deliberate and another sign of their Marxist tendencies and their continuing objective to destroy us.
Didn’t the U.K. give a significant amount of money towards India’s space programme? Looks like part of that agreement was finding ‘space’ for more Indian workers in the UK? Sigh…
Reynolds was very sly in his defence of the plan. By talking about the employees’ contributions, and ignoring the contributions made by the employers, he neatly sidestepped the real crux of the matter, namely that it makes it cheaper for employers to employ foreign workers than British workers.
Did Starmer sneak a military defence clause into this “agreement”, which seems timed to coincide with the sudden new flare-ups of the Pakistan vs. India conflict, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the British Isles?
Is he savouring the prospect of sending British White Men to die in India’s War as well as Ukraine’s War? That will certainly speed up the Anti-White Genocide Plan.