good morning. The government’s greatest public policy success is to agree to a trade agreement with India. Yes, these are relatively small beers compared to, say, going back to a nearby trading block or having better terms with it, but easing the barriers to trading is good.
There is also some kind of looming US-UK trade agreement (which means that the Donald Trump’s White House, perhaps a small, unreliable behaviour of other negotiating parties, is less certain than desirable).
One problem with post-Brexit politics in the UK is that there are essentially two trends when it comes to trade. One is to sniff at those that have all forms of barriers to trade and movement, and to those that are not approaching the EU.
Given that one of these measures aims to increase the number of Indians coming to the UK and work as in-business transfer workers, what does this convey about the broader direction of government policy and the impact of the Ministry of Home Affairs? A few more about the following:
Go to the diagram
Who is the most influential and important minister in regards to government programs at this time? Answer: Secretary of the Interior, Yvette Cooper. Cooper and the Home Office have won an internal battle with the Ministry of Education over reforming graduate visas for foreign graduates at UK universities. It is Cooper’s objection to the youth mobility scheme that the UK must be satisfied to successfully reduce the barrier between London and Brussels (according to this FT exclusive, the EU and the UK are deeply divided as exist).
I previously wrote about Cooper’s influence, but Patrick Maguire had a smart column in the Times recently. Patrick writes:
(Yvette Cooper) doesn’t want to allow young people to look and terrify as something that is free to move – others in the government see it as a fair price for a closer economic partnership – there’s no point in return. If the EU is opening the boundary for people in their 20s, the Home Office believes that it can be done by accessing biometric data Brussels holds for asylum seekers, irregular immigrants and suspected criminals.
Department sources acknowledge the hardball gambit. The glide path to the UK-EU summit (this month) could result in turbulence. Others in Whitehall also question whether a single-minded drive to reduce Cooper’s net transfer would sacrifice the benefits of symbolic altar growth.
Is this a sign that at the top of the government, rhetorical commitment to free trade and growth is beating the rhetorical commitment to reducing immigration? Ultimately, this trade agreement measures do not promise the UK to issue more Company Transfer Visas. It is likely that these visas will continue to be issued in large quantities for Indian workers. However, as a sign of a balance between the direction of travel and the military within the government, plans to restrict the permanent residency of some immigrants is a better measure of where the government stands.
Try this now
I’ve been eating a lot of crabs recently. Because the school offers spider club meat along with a wide range of fish. I’m thinking of trying this Rowley Leigh recipe, but please email me and let me know which Crab recipe you like.
Today’s top stories
Tuck to the right | The Conservatives announced the “deportation bill” on Tuesday night. This involves automatic deportation of people arriving in the UK through illegal routes, such as crossing channels by small boats. This comes after Kemi Badenok, branded as “bloody” after last week’s local election results.
Speaking of Badenok. . . |The Tory leader has been accused of Indian officials of speaking of “trash.”
Indefinite leave | UK immigrants will need to wait longer before they can apply to make their residents permanent under a plan created by the government as part of crackdowns on people working in the UK.
Pentagonal Petition | The US hopes that the British military will focus more on Europe and Asia in major policy changes from the Biden administration.
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