You might expect that with an India trade deal having been seen as one of the crown jewels of post-EU independence, the pro-Brexit media would be celebrating its arrival after more than three years of negotiations across successive governments.
Rather than celebrating what looks to be a landmark UK-India trade agreement, the right-wing press have instead used the moment to ramp up anti-immigrant sentiment and, naturally, attack Labour.
Headlines across the conservative media on May 7 homed in on a specific clause in the agreement, framing it as a betrayal of British workers — a tax exemption when Indian workers are seconded to the UK on short-term visas, both they and their employers should be exempted from NICs for up to three years.
The Daily Telegraph led with the provocative headline: “Two-tier tax deal for Indian migrants”, suggesting that Starmer had ceded to Indian negotiators by allowing foreign staff to avoid paying national insurance for three years.
The piece paints the exemption as the central feature of the agreement, accusing Starmer of selling out British workers in exchange for a deal that, by the government’s own estimates, will boost the UK economy by £4.8 billion by 2040 — a detail conveniently buried well into the article.
The “two-tier” framing was disseminated by several Conservative figures. Party leader Kemi Badenoch accused Starmer of double standards, saying, “This is two-tier taxes from two-tier Keir.”
Nigel Farage chimed in via a video posted on X, claiming the policy showed Labour “doesn’t give a damn about working people”, and using the opportunity to promote Reform as the true “party of British workers.” Farage also cited Reform’s recent local election results as evidence of growing discontent.
Robert Jenrick, shadow justice secretary, joined the pile on, saying: “Starmer has hiked National Insurance on Brits while giving an exemption to Indian migrants. British workers come last in Starmer’s Britain.”
The Times led with the same outrage, running with the front-page headline: “Anger at Indian payoff in ‘biggest deal since Brexit’” and scoffing how the £5bn deal “undercuts UK workers”, suggesting the £5 billion deal “undercuts UK workers.”
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail devoted almost its entire front page to the headline:
“Labour’s tax break for Indian workers”, accompanied by a subhead accusing Labour of making it “cheaper to employ foreign staff.”
GB News, unsurprisingly, took the most strident tone, with a headline screaming: “’Two-tier taxes!’ Keir Starmer gives Indian migrants tax break while Britons crippled by record levies.”
Sigh, instead of championing a long-awaited trade agreement that is likely to bring benefits to UK industries — particularly those hurt by Trump-era tariffs — and inject an estimated £4.8 billion a year into the economy by 2040, the right-wing press has chosen to focus on stoking hostility toward migrants. And as for the rather technical and therefore boring argument that tax exemption for workers on short term contracts with their own national companies, is quite common in such deals – well that got lost in all the noise.
You might expect that with an India trade deal having been seen as one of the crown jewels of post-EU independence, the pro-Brexit media would be celebrating its arrival after more than three years of negotiations across successive governments.
But when there’s an opportunity to weaponise a tax exemption and stir up anti-immigrant sentiment, that ‘triumph’ quickly takes a back seat.
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