The Brexit draft withdrawal agreement prepared after negotiations with the EU caused a lot of unhappy Tory MPs which led to a confidence vote which the British Prime Minister Theresa May survived with an assurance that she would assuage concerns the MPs had with the Brexit deal. However, the EU refused to renegotiate the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

The British Prime Minister has delayed the vote on the Brexit deal knowing very well that it would be voted against. British PM May proposed to delay the Brexit deal vote, which would determine future relations of Britain with the EU, again to January 14. As the date of Britain’s exit is nearing, this has caused the opposition to threaten to table a confidence vote on Theresa May’s leadership. This leads us to believe that there will be a lot more of what most would consider “unnecessary” drama that will unfold. It certainly looks like there is more likelihood of a no-deal Brexit (Britain exit without a deal).

But, Ashwin Ahmad of SNi says that the “No-Deal” option is good as a slogan but impractical in real life as all trade figures show Britain is heavily dependent on Europe economically, a scenario that will not change anytime soon.

Brexit, yes, but where to?

From the Indian perspective it should be noted that Britain could look to Asia to sell their services. The trade agreements, however, do not cover services and it is not entirely certain that India would want services from UK. Additionally, the UK, who would lose their free trade agreements with the EU would need to have 160 plus WTO members sign off on trade deals.

Though there is a lot of scope for trade expansions in the EU countries, the lack of clarity can only give rise to speculation on eventualities at best.  However, an educated guesser would surmise that there is huge potential considering the economic growth of India as India looks to overtake China as the leading global economy.

Will India reciprocate?

India has displayed interest in the Commonwealth at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in the UK. Again, there is a lot of potential for the UK to export to the growing economies of the Commonwealth countries and build a partnership with, but the question is, will the UK be ready to shake hands, or will they develop cold feet as years of free trade within the EU could cause them to be more circumspect.

China’s dominance with investments in Pakistan and loaning to Sri Lanka is counterweighted by the agreement that India has with the European Union (EU) countries.  It could only be left to see whether India would like to negotiate terms with Britain separately with the existing deal with EU countries. Though it looks likely, the whole state of pandemonium in Britain at the moment could cause India to reconsider.