Shadow UK Home Secretary to visit India shortly

H S Rao

London, Oct 1 (PTI) U.K.-India bilateral relations have
undergone a "complete transformation" in recent times and it
should be a "model" for good bilateral ties, Britain's shadow
home secretary Dominic Grieve has said.

"There has been complete transformation in the relations
between India and the U.K. in recent times and I plan to visit
India in the near future and there is lot to discuss," Grieve
said, speaking at the Conservative Party's annual conference
jointly hosted by Conservatives Friends of India and the
Indian High Commissioner to U.K., Shiv Shankar Mukherjee.

The shadow home secretary paid tribute to the Indian
community in Britain which he said has integrated very well
socially and economically in the country. "The U.K.-India
relationship is not only for mutual benefit but it should be a
model for good bilateral relationship," he said.

High Commissioner Mukherjee, concurring with Grieve said
the relationship is "full of substance."

"The canvass is very broad and the relationship has
taken a quantum jump during the last few years," Mukerjee
said.

The reception was attended among others by seven shadow
ministers including Damien Green (Immigration), Baroness
Pauline Neville Jones (Security), David Laddingley (Foreign
Minister) Hugh Roberta, (Sports and Culture), Baroness Sandeep
Varma (Health) and Shailesh Vara, M.P., Deputy leader in the
House of Commons and Co-Chair of the Conservatives Friends of
India.

The tightened security at the Hyatt Regency, the venue of
the conference, lead to some of the journalists and NRIs who
had the High Commissioner's invitation for the reception
unable to attend it as they did not have the conference
accreditation.

Mukherjee, who came out to meet the journalists said
there was genuine warmth about India among Conservative party
leaders as in the case of Labour and Liberal Democrats.

"We are a major investor in Britain and the bilateral
economic relation is now self-sustaining. The relationship is
one of complete understanding and extremely important," he
added.