Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had discussions with her Indian counterpart on the prospect of India ratifying conventions (a) 87 and (b) 98 of the International Labour Organisation conventions; and whether this would be a prerequisite for any free trade agreement between the UK and India.

While we do not comment on live negotiations, our approach to FTA negotiations is to secure provisions that ensure labour standards are not compromised in order to increase trade or investment. An FTA with India will not come at the expense of our worker protections.