India and UK to press ahead with talks on free trade deal

theguardian.com:

India and the UK will press ahead with talks on a bilateral free trade agreement, Boris Johnson and the Indian premier, Narendra Modi, have said, after the UK made clear it was willing to make immigration part of any deal.

The pair appeared to differ on how rapidly an agreement could be made – Johnson suggested it could be ready by the festival of Diwali in late October, but Modi pointed to the end of the year.

Johnson said: “As the next round of talks begin here next week, we are telling our negotiators, get it done by Diwali in October.”

Modi said there had been “good progress and we have decided to make all efforts to conclude the FTA [free trade agreement] by the end of this year”. Three rounds of talks had already been held.

Johnson and Modi were speaking together at Hyderabad House in Delhi, where they were holding bilateral talks, as Johnson’s two-day visit to India draws to a close.

Downing Street had hoped the trip would demonstrate the prime minister’s determination to focus on investment, jobs and security, but it has been overshadowed by events at home.

On Thursday, Johnson’s allies were unable to prevent MPs supporting an investigation into whether he misled parliament over Partygate, and the senior MP Steve Baker, a former Johnson supporter, joined the ranks of those calling for him to go.

India had been keen to make increased access to the UK for its citizens part of any trade agreement, and Johnson signalled on Thursday he was willing to make concessions in this area – something previous UK governments had refused to do.

Asked whether he was willing to offer more visas as part of a deal, he told ITV: “The UK actually has a massive shortage in some sectors like IT. Some estimates say we are hundreds of thousands