Keir Starmer has resisted demands to dish out even more visas to Indian workers and students in the face of growing pressure from businesses.
Travelling alongside 125 business leaders and university vice-chancellors to Mumbai, the Prime Minister batted away calls from for more “high-skilled worker” visas for Indians to come and work in Britain.
He said that was “not part of the plan”, and pointed out that the free trade deal agreed with Indian counterpart Narendra Modi back in July had not involved a substantial change in visa arrangements.
Sir Keir also defended the presence of university vice-chancellors on board the Mumbai-bound British Airways flight when pressed by reporters.
The PM pointed out that the free trade deal agreed with Indian counterpart Narendra Modi back in July had not involved a substantial change in visa arrangements
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“A number of universities are established in India,” he said. “They are coming to export their businesses to India… Some universities like Southampton are already pretty well-established.”
The PM went on: “It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to provide university education in India for people.
“There’s no question of visas. This is just a fantastic opportunity – and that’s why they are with us.
“They want to build out that side of their business and a very good thing too.”
Sir Keir Starmer was travelling alongside 125 business leaders and university vice-chancellors to Mumbai when he spoke to GB News
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Sir Keir was also asked if the Government might refuse to issue visas to countries which fail to take back deportees from the UK.
Such schemes have been mooted in the past for countries like Pakistan in the case of convicted grooming gang ringleaders.
He confirmed: “We are looking at whether there should be a link between visas and returns agreements.
“With India, that is a non-issue because we have got a returns agreement that is operating really well. We’ve returned, I think, 6,300 or so already – that’s a 55% increase, so it’s not an issue in relation to India.”
The Government is under huge pressure to reduce legal migration, along with clamping down on small boat crossings, as Reform UK surges in the polls.
Nigel Farage’s party would likely form Britain’s next Government if a General Election were held tomorrow.
One of Reform’s landmark campaign promises has been to reverse the “Boriswave” migration surge through mass deportations.
Legal migration surged to levels of almost one million a year under Boris Johnson and his Home Secretary Priti Patel – and successive governments have been working to reduce the numbers.
Between 2021 and the end of 2024, Indian was the most common single nationality of people migrating to the UK.
Around 850,000 Indian nationals arrived during this time – with thousands more arriving into 2025.
Legal migration surged to levels of almost one million a year under Boris Johnson and his Home Secretary Priti Patel
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PAThe Indian trade deal was successful without granting huge numbers of additional visas – something which had long been an ask of the Indian Government.
Stricter criteria has been introduced to dramatically reduce the number of foreign students studying in the UK.
Many had brought relatives – and some then used the route as a way to enter Britain legally, and later either overstay their visas and remain here illegally or claim asylum.
Income from foreign students has become increasingly important to cash-strapped universities. It now brings in about a quarter of all income, against just five per cent in 1995.
Home Office figures released earlier this year show that sponsored study visas fell by 31 per cent between 2023 and 2024.
And as foreign student numbers fall, vice-chancellors see India as a huge opportunity. Some 70 million university places are needed there by 2035.