Strategic experts expect the India-UK partnership to remain steady under incoming British prime minister Andy Burnham, who was elected unopposed on Friday and will take over from Keir Starmer at Downing Street on Monday after the formal handover of power. Their assessment comes in the same week that the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) entered into force.
While Burnham has promised to do things differently on several fronts, analysts, diplomats and business voices said India is likely to remain a point of continuity in British foreign policy. They said the next phase could centre on turning the trade pact into gains in investment, exports, jobs, research and strategic cooperation.
“Over this past year, we have valued close engagement with the Greater Manchester authorities, particularly Mr Andy Burnham, whose energy and warm support has done much to strengthen India-North-England ties,” Vishakha Yaduvanshi, the Consul General of India in Manchester, told PTI. As the first head of India’s new diplomatic mission in the UK, she described the Consulate’s opening in March last year as a “landmark moment” that highlights the potential of the north of England, including “its industries, academia and sporting ethos”, within the India-UK relationship.
Yaduvanshi said Burnham’s 2019 visit to India, his meeting with former Indian high commissioner Vikram Doraiswami in December 2025, and his virtual participation in the India-North England Opportunity Summit in March 2026 showed a longstanding commitment to the partnership. Burnham has spoken of “fond memories” from his visit to Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi seven years ago, which was coordinated by the Manchester India Partnership, a platform set up for businesses and universities to engage with India.
At the time, Burnham had said: “India is a key market in Greater Manchester’s internationalisation strategy as it presents significant opportunities to the city-region, but these opportunities are mutual, and Greater Manchester is also helping India with its own economic growth plans.” He identified “digital technology, engineering, advanced manufacturing, healthcare and academia” as key sectors, along with “opportunities for tourism, sport and cultural collaboration”.
Rajesh Agrawal, chair of the Labour Friends of India diaspora group, said Burnham has focused on building long-term links. “Andy understands that growth comes from longer-term relationships. If you look at his own track record in Manchester, he’s worked to strengthen links with India through businesses, universities, innovation and improving connectivity with a direct flight between India and Manchester,” he said. Agrawal, who worked closely with Burnham during his earlier tenure as Labour’s deputy mayor of London, also said Burnham’s devolution agenda could align with India’s federal structure. “He’s a big fan of devolution and empowering different regions, and India is of course a federal structure with many states. So, I also see him engaging more with regional governments,” he said.
Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, Senior Fellow for South Asia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said he sees “continuity” in the relationship because it “has not been better in over a decade”, pointing to back-to-back prime ministerial visits last year and CETA coming into force on Wednesday. He said Burnham now has “an opportunity to deepen these improved India-UK ties, deliver on the prosperity agenda and ensure a landmark dividend on bilateral defence and strategic cooperation with India, which looks to diversify its defence relationships while modernising its armed forces capability and boosting defence manufacturing in order to export to the world”.
British Indian think tank 1928 Institute also said the relationship has strong momentum, but called for steps to sustain it. “From an India policy and diaspora perspective, Andy Burnham would inherit a strong foundation. However, his attention is likely to be pulled in several directions, particularly given the domestic focus of his agenda. It would therefore be prudent to establish an India Task Force and/or appoint an India Trade Envoy, to maintain the current momentum,” said institute chair Dr Nikita Ved.
Lord Karan Bilimoria, Cobra Beer founder and co-chair of the India All Party Parliamentary Group, said he was confident Burnham would continue to “prioritise India”. He also said he hoped the political instability that is bringing in the UK’s seventh prime minister in 10 years would give way to steadiness. “Stability for at least for the next three years until the next general election, so that businesses in the UK and in India can invest in each other’s countries… which will create jobs on both sides,” he said. “We need to double our trade, going from nearly 50 billion pounds today to 100 billion pounds by 2030… I’m very confident of a very bright future for the UK and India from now onwards,” he added.
Tech entrepreneur Uday Nagaraju, one of the newer British Indian Labour peers in the House of Lords, said the incoming prime minister “inherits an exceptionally strong” bilateral position and is expected to maintain the “same strategic direction” with India. “It would also be combined with Andy Burnham’s own characteristic focus, based on his work in Manchester on regional growth, skills, infrastructure, and bringing government and business together. I think the next stage [for India-UK ties] will be about converting the trade agreement into investment, exports, jobs, research partnerships, and opportunities for smaller companies in both countries,” he said.
Overall, diplomats, experts and business voices expect Burnham to keep India-UK ties on their present course, with CETA, recent high-level engagement and stronger regional links seen as the main base for the next phase of the partnership.
With PTI Inputs
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