Pressure Mounts On British PM To Cancel India Visit Amid Covid Surge

The visit will be the first major bilateral visit by Britain's PM outside Europe since the UK general election in December 2019 and the conclusion of the Brexit transition period at the end of December 2020.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under mounting pressure to cancel his scheduled trip to India on April 25. The Labour Party has questioned why Mr Johnson cannot meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi online to discuss bilateral relations. "The Government is telling people don't travel if you don't have to absolutely travel and I can't see why the Prime Minister can't conduct his business with the Indian government by Zoom. So many of us do that these days and I think the Prime Minister, all of us in public life, need to try and set an example so I'd much rather the Prime Minister did it by Zoom than by travelling to India," said Labour Party's Shadow Communities Secretary Steve Reed.   Sources have indicated that Mr Johnson is keen to keep his appointment with PM Modi. The visit, previously postponed from a Republic Day tour in January, is the first major bilateral visit by Britain's PM outside Europe since the UK general election in December 2019 and the conclusion of the Brexit transition period at the end of December 2020. The British Prime Minister will visit India from April 25 and is set to agree a Roadmap 2030 for re-energised India-UK relations across trade and investment, technological collaboration and climate action, the Indian High Commission in London said in a statement on Thursday. Earlier, Downing Street had confirmed that due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in India, the UK PM has decided to shorten the length of his planned visit, and conclude his meetings in one day - on Monday, the 26th of April.