{"id":482318,"date":"2025-10-08T07:03:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T07:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/482318\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T07:03:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T07:03:11","slug":"starmer-to-beat-the-drum-for-scottish-produce-on-india-trade-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/482318\/","title":{"rendered":"Starmer to \u2018beat the drum\u2019 for Scottish produce on India trade trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sir Keir Starmer will be \u201cbeating the drum for Scotland\u2019s finest products\u201d during a visit to India, Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander has said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Prime Minister is in India on Wednesday and Thursday, with the trip coming after the two countries agreed an \u201chistoric\u201d trade deal.<\/p>\n

That deal will cut import tariffs on Scotch whisky from 150% to 75% immediately,\u00a0with these charges then to fall further to 40% within 10 years.<\/p>\n

That could boost sales of Scotch in India, with a possible increase of \u00a31 billion a year \u2013 a move which could create more 1,000 jobs in Scotland\u2019s whisky sector, meaning a potential increase in sales to India of \u00a31 billion a year, creating more than 1,000 new jobs.<\/p>\n

Whisky producers and leading figures from industry body, the Scotch Whisky Association, are to join the PM on the trade mission.<\/p>\n

But the deal already agreed by the Indian and UK governments could also benefit other well known Scottish products, such as shortbread and the soft drink Irn-Bru.<\/p>\n

Mr Alexander, who is also part of the trade mission, will use the visit to meet with senior figures in the Indian government, with the Scottish Secretary hoping to deepen trade and diplomatic relations between Scotland and India.<\/p>\n

Speaking ahead of the trip, he said the \u201chistoric\u201d trade deal between the two governments was \u201cgreat news for Scotland and especially our whisky industry\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"DouglasPA MediaDouglas Alexander said he had already worked closely with the whisky sector during his time as a trade minister. PA Media<\/p>\n

But he added: \u201cHaving secured the deal, our challenge and responsibility now is to put this deal into action. That requires implementation of the deal by the governments of India and the UK, and the utilisation of the deal by British and Indian businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeading this trade mission, the Prime Minister will be beating the drum for Scotland\u2019s finest products. With the strength and support of the UK Government they can be world-reaching in terms of export markets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Alexander said he had already worked closely with the Scotch Whisky Association in his previous role as a UK Government trade minister.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI understand the challenges they face and that this deal with India could be transformative for the industry over the long term.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn this trade mission we will be looking to take full advantage of the opportunities this crucial trade deal brings for Scotland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Scotch Whisky Association chief executive Mark Kent said: \u201cWe\u2019re delighted to join this visit following the efforts of the UK Government to secure the UK-India Free Trade Agreement, and look forward to its swift and smooth implementation.<\/p>\n

\u201cDelivering liberalised tariffs on all our exports to India will open up access to the world\u2019s largest whisky market in the years to come and give greater choice to Indian consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"WhatsApp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir Keir Starmer will be \u201cbeating the drum for Scotland\u2019s finest products\u201d during a visit to India, Scottish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5009],"tags":[748,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-482318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scotland","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-scotland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115337272143735734","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}