India visit key to British PM’s post-Brexit plans

LONDON: When British Prime Minister Theresa May takes off for India for a three-day visit from November 6, she will have Brussels as much on her mind as New Delhi, given the tortuous path she has to tread to leave the EU and chart a future in the post-Brexit situation.

Bilateralism aside, the India visit is part of the increasingly acrimonious perception battle here, and May’s message to Brussels will be: “I have options outside the EU. We are getting a deal with as large a market as India”.

Eagerness about the visit is evident on the British side beyond the symbolism that it is May’s first bilateral visit outside Europe since taking over as Prime Minister in the aftermath of the June 23 Brexit vote. Her team will include over 160 people, mostly focused on trade.

With the old power equation of ‘deliverer and supplicant’ in India-Britain relations now consigned to history, the Indian side is preparing for some straight talk during the visit: easier visa access and Britain no longer fence-sitting on terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

“We are not going to lose much if you don’t allow short-term migration of students, tourists, professionals; post-Brexit, you need Indians. Our group tourists return from France, don’t come to Britain due to difficult visa conditions”, says India’s acting high commissioner, Dinesh Patnaik.

It is expected that May will at least announce the extension of a pilot currently underway in China to offer easier, longer and cheaper visa to tourists.

Under the pilot, a UK visa valid for two years is offered for £87; for the same fee, Indians get the visa for a maximum of six months. A two-year visa for Indians costs £330.