Britain’s election could have profound effects on India

This is a profoundly important election; a fight for the soul of British identity. Are we to remain a pro-businesses and pro-enterprise country? Or are we to be follow the path of President Hollande in France and see profits and wealth as anathema to our country’s welfare?
 
Britain’s imminent election is far from the top of most minds in India. And yet, should Labour be successful, it could have a devastating effect on UK-India relations and Prime Minister Modi’s efforts to boost development in India.
 
David Cameron has revolutionised Britain’s relationship with India. He’s visited India on four occasions; including his first overseas visit as Prime Minister and taking the largest trade delegation in British history.
 
Cameron was explicit at the G20 last year when saying that building relations with India was Britain’s top foreign policy priority. Our countries share a language, but most importantly we share a desire to trade on the global stage so that all of our citizens can benefit.
 
Yet all this could be at risk. Ed Miliband is threatening to undo decades of economic progress in Britain due to his ideologically anti-business stance. Labour see business success as anathema to the society they wish to create. Higher taxes, market intervention and nationalisation are back on the agenda.
 
A Labour Government’s fight with British businesses could have a huge impact on Delhi. Britain’s businesses are currently seen as steadfast trading partners in India. But a clampdown at home will make it increasingly difficult for British firms to focus on emerging markets like India.
 
Many of Britain’s strongest exports –energy, health, professional services- exactly mirror Prime Minister Modi’s priorities for his ‘Made in India’ drive. But it will all be at risk if Union-bankrolled Labour trash our most successful firms.
 
Prime Minister Modi is also unlikely to be predisposed to working with Labour. Alongside their decades-old relationship with the Congress Party, it was also the previous Labour Government that suspended diplomatic ties with Modi when he was Gujarat’s Chief Minister.
 
It was the Conservatives that overturned this suspension. It is a Conservative Prime Minister that has personally invited Narendra Modi to visit Britain. And it is the Conservative Party that has made relations with India such an important part of Britain’s foreign policy.
 
Britain’s forthcoming election may currently be under the radar in India at the moment, but there should be no doubt that if the opposition gets in on May 7th, the development of both of our nations will suffer.
 
Lord Dolar Popat is a Government Whip and Lord-in-Waiting with responsibilities for Business and Transport.