Boris, Brexit and Bengaluru: Departing UK DHC speaks

With Brexit imminent, the outgoing British deputy high commissioner who talked about Bengaluru and the influence the new PM Boris Johnson will have on British policies, nevertheless predicted that India will become one of the UK’s most important trading partners in the near future.

In an interview with DH on Thursday, Dominic McAllister who hails from Tunbridge Wells, the small town in Kent which produced Lawrence of Arabia, and due to relinquish his Bengaluru post on August 18, described Karnataka as the most important state for British investment.

“38% of the UK’s investment is concentrated here and the state has come out ahead of Tamil Nadu, which has 29% investment,” he said, stressing that Britain’s exit from the European Union would not affect existing India-UK relations.

“In 2017, Britain’s FDI stock had a value of £14.4 bn. There are 264 UK companies operating in India, employing 78,000 people, including 147 which run their operations out of the state,” he said and added that it is a situation he believes Johnson will not sabotage by throwing a spanner into the works.

“The new PM is enthusiastic about India,” he said, and as proof of Johnson’s India-centric credentials, underlined that three senior cabinet positions in the UK government are held by persons of Indian origin — Priti Patel, the home secretary, Alok Sharma as the international development secretary and Rishi Sunak as the chief secretary to the
treasury.

Nevertheless, a long-expected free trade agreement between India and Britain has not materialised, prompting McAllister to say that this cannot become a reality until Britain leaves the European Union on October 1.

However, the challenges of doing business in India has prompted the British government to engage in a series of initiatives in improving how the Centre tackles roadblocks in investment, accountability in tax collection and creating systems to authenticate records.

“We even have UK government experts embedded in local Indian departments - at the request of the Indian government, to improve governance,” he said.

McAllister described Bengaluru as a vibrant city in which no two days are alike. He added that his next appointment will be in London, where he expects to help with Brexit.

‘Visa cap not met’

McAllister described the India-UK relationship as a two-way street, where the UK seeks to attract more skilled Indians. He also pointed out that the established visa cap has not yet been met.

On Kashmir

While McAllister was reluctant to speak about the Indian government’s scrapping of Article 370 in Kashmir, he said the British government was following the developments closely and had called for calm.