UK-India Technology Security Initiative

Sarah Edwards Excerpts

Tuesday 28th April 2026 Westminster Hall

[Dan Aldridge]

When I was on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, we visited Queen’s and talked about its cyber-security prowess. The ecosystem in the UK is very much connected—something we are very proud of—so I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention.

I am delighted to have secured this debate; in the spirit of interconnected communities, before going into the specifics of the UK-India TSI, I will talk about something a bit closer to home. This topic speaks to one of the reasons why Britain’s international relationships, our diplomacy and our international trade agreements matter not just at the Government level, but locally, on the streets of Weston-super-Mare and in towns, villages and cities across the UK.

My constituency might not be a place that people automatically associate with India, but our town is home to a small but thriving Indian community. Their contribution to local life is immeasurable, whether in our NHS, businesses, schools or civic institutions. The people who came to Weston from India and whose families have grown up here are woven into the fabric of what makes our town work.

[Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) (Lab)]

What a wonderful speech my hon. Friend is making about this important connection that our two countries can have! Similarly, I pay tribute to my constituency; it might not be associated with a huge Indian community, but it does have one, and they contribute a lot to the UK, and certainly to our medical professions and businesses locally.

[Dan Aldridge]

I thank my hon. Friend, who accompanied me to India. It was a phenomenally insightful visit.

The human connection is not incidental to this debate; it is the very foundation of it. I use this opportunity to give a special shout-out to people such as Akhilesh Madhav and his family, who chose Weston to work in our NHS, to care for our people and to raise their children. Akhilesh and his friends and colleagues do more than just work and live in Weston-super-Mare; they are tireless community builders and campaigners, setting up new organisations such as FYI-Weston, which hosts wonderful, inclusive events, bringing people together from across our community to connect, learn, make friends and often do business, linking our two great countries.

I also give a shout-out to Sanju Varghese, who along with his friends created the charitable Weston Association of Malayalees, a forum to help Malayalees from Kerala in India to engage with local communities through acts of service. The association is always out with local groups, litter picking and fundraising for local causes.

Our shared stories go back generations, with a complex history, but firmly focused on the future and a desire to create opportunity and prosperity. They are all examples of how the relationship between the United Kingdom and India is not, in essence, a relationship between two Governments, two economies or even two sets of interests; it is actually a relationship between people and communities. We share a history, a legal tradition, a language and deep cultural ties. It is a friendship with deep roots, which is now growing into something genuinely transformative.

[Sarah Edwards]

My hon. Friend is correct that we had a wonderful trip to India as part of the Business and Trade Committee’s work. One thing we looked at was the joint value of the free trade agreement that we have recently signed, which sends a powerful signal about the future and how our countries can benefit each other.

[Dan Aldridge]

Absolutely. Building on that point, many of us who made that visit think we need to address the problem that too much of British public life is working with an image of India that is frankly decades out of date. Many still think of India as a poor nation, a country that we assist, rather than as a strategic partner of great global significance.

Not only is that perception inaccurate, but to continue thinking like that is a strategic weakness for the UK. India has risen dramatically to the top five of the world’s biggest economies, from a position of 13th in the year 2000. Under Viksit Bharat, the developed India vision, the Indian Government are targeting GDP of between $30 trillion and $40 trillion by 2047. To put that in context, that would potentially make India the biggest economy in the world, at about eight or nine times the size of the current UK economy.

Those numbers alone should command attention, but what really struck me during last month’s visit to India was not the statistics, but the confidence, energy and sense of forward momentum. Whoever we spoke to, the message was the same: India knows where it is going, and it is moving fast. If we in all parts of the UK do not wake up to that reality, we will limit our part in that story and the ways it could deliver shared prosperity, innovation and opportunity for both our countries.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dan Aldridge]

I thank the hon. Member for his question. We must take those considerations really seriously, and they are absolutely part of a wide-ranging conversation that we have with all our trading partners. We should be aiming for the best out of our relationships; we do not want a low bar.

This issue is not simply about what the UK can gain, but about recognising that our futures are increasingly interconnected and that we have to build new ways to navigate that. Our Government understand the potential and the scale of the opportunity, but its value has to filter out to the rest of the economy, to towns such as mine where trade with India might feel very far away from the daily concerns of the majority. We need to change that and build those relationships to show how much we can all gain from each other. Whether in clean energy, technology, education or trade, there is a real opportunity to build a partnership that supports both our economies while creating good jobs, stronger industries and deeper ties between our people. The question for us is not whether India will succeed; it is whether we choose to engage with that success in a meaningful, long-term and mutually beneficial way.

It is against that backdrop that the UK-India TSI matters so much. It sets out a bold new framework for how our two countries can work together on the defining technologies of our generation. That is not a vague statement of intent; it is an ambitious partnership covering telecoms, 5G infrastructure, AI, critical minerals, semiconductors, quantum computing, advanced materials and health and biotechnology. It is co-ordinated at the highest levels by the national security advisers of both countries and it is already delivering.

A year on from the launch of the TSI, both Governments reaffirmed their commitment to expand into new frontier domains. Private sector partnerships are multiplying, research collaborations are under way and investment is flowing. It is an important framework and forum for dialogue and diplomacy in key areas such as critical minerals, which are crucial to our economic and national security. That is particularly important right now, as China increases its global dominance of critical mineral production and refining capability, giving it enormous leverage over the global supply of those minerals.

How we build and strengthen our supply chains in an increasingly complicated and unpredictable world must be at the top of the Government’s agenda. Last week in the Business and Trade Committee we heard plea after plea from industry for a focus on diplomacy and dialogue to get Britain’s strategy on critical minerals right. The UK Government published their critical minerals strategy in November last year, aiming to increase global production while building resilient domestic and global supply networks. That is a much needed start, but for it to deliver, we need dedicated and sustained diplomacy to support our relationships with trusted international partners such as India, with both the resource base and political will to build resilient supply chains alongside us.

[Sarah Edwards]

The point on critical minerals, which the Select Committee has been looking into, is really important. One piece of evidence we heard was on the slight concern about the size of the UK and our ability to do this alone, which meant that our emphasis would be on friendshoring and the throughput of material we would need to make this viable. Does my hon. Friend therefore agree that we need these types of deals to make sure that we can, for example, recycle our lithium and that we have friends to do that with, so that we can support important initiatives such as this?

[Dan Aldridge]

I absolutely agree. One of the most exciting things about the UK-India partnership is the complementarity of our needs. To build on my hon. Friend’s point about that partnership on critical minerals, an example of our partnership is the UK-India critical minerals supply chain observatory—the first of its kind in the world. The second phase, which has been backed by nearly £2 million in funding, will deliver the world’s largest data infrastructure on the critical minerals value chain.

Our two Governments are also establishing a UK-India critical minerals guild to transform financing standards and push innovation—as somebody who worked for a chartered institute, that excites me more than most. The geopolitical argument here is simple: in a world where we must do more to secure reliable access to critical minerals that power our economy, our defence and our energy transition, having a partner of India’s scale, with its own often complementary interests in diversifying global supply chains, is not just useful, but a strategic necessity.

Under the TSI, the first UK-India conference on AI opportunities was held in Bengaluru in February last year. Both Governments have agreed to establish a joint India-UK centre for AI to drive advancement in the use of AI in telecoms, including in telecoms cyber-security. I find it compelling that the TSI’s approach to AI emphasises governance as well as innovation. Given the scale of the challenge facing Parliaments around the world on this issue, having a trusted, democratic partner with whom we can develop shared frameworks, conduct joint research and exchange expertise on safety and bias testing is vital.

[Sarah Edwards]

One of the interesting things that we learned on the trip was that India’s approach is also about how it uses Government procurement. With careful consideration, that could be used to make sure that UK tech companies can grow and benefit from having a revenue stream and contract. There may be things we can learn from India in terms of how the country approaches that sensibly and safely, so that we can use it as a driving force for economic growth in the UK.

[Dan Aldridge]

As ever, I agree with my hon. Friend. Specifically on the point about how we build our domestic capacity, there is something very exciting about the new £500 million investment in sovereign AI. It would be great to hear how that investment might—I hope—be linked closely to this work.

[Dan Aldridge]

I absolutely agree. One of the things I took back to my constituency was about how I engage with schoolchildren and college students, but that point is much wider; we should be really ambitious in that cross-cultural dialogue. There is nothing but gains to be had, so far as I can see.

It came out loud and clear from our counterparts in India that cross-party political support for the UK and India’s partnership on AI and technology was critical in reassuring Indian officials and politicians that the UK was a safe and reliable partner. Politicians and officials in India were really impressed that the main two UK political parties could share a stage in India, and saw that as a real positive—a really good thing on the global stage.

On semiconductors, under the TSI the UK and India are pursuing a broad and ambitious partnership focused on research and development in chip design, compound semiconductors and advanced packaging. Both Governments have committed to sharing best practice on supply chain challenges and to facilitating trade and investment flows between semiconductor companies in both countries.

Then there is quantum: quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum communications. For most people, those technologies remain firmly in the realm of science fiction, but not for long. The countries that invest in quantum research and development now will have decisive advantages in cryptography, defence and pharmaceuticals, and in areas that we cannot yet fully predict. It is important that elected Members champion these frontier technologies and make them real for people in our constituencies, because if we do not do it, who will? It will probably be a drama or a TikTok, and those are not necessarily the best places for them to get their information.

The TSI explicitly includes quantum as a priority area for collaboration. I find the idea of building partnerships between UK and Indian research centres and developing the next generation of technologies together really exciting. The UK has world-leading quantum research capabilities. India has the engineering talent and institutional ambition to match them, and it is a brilliant match.

These are the technologies of tomorrow, and our collaboration on these sectors provides huge opportunities for the UK, particularly the small and medium-sized enterprises in our constituencies. The Indian Government and Indian businesses are actively looking for British partners, particularly SMEs, and the TSI is not just a framework for multinational corporations or Government-to-Government exchanges; it is designed to create partnerships at every level of the economy, including start-ups, research institutions, academic collaborators and supply chain partners. I am excited that next month I will be welcoming some start-up innovators from India to Parliament.

Our partnerships with small and medium-sized enterprises are the exception, not the rule, but it is our responsibility as local representatives to help change that—to open doors and to make the benefits of the UK-India partnership seen in our constituencies up and down the country. The only way we can make the most of the relationship is through sustained engagement, which relates to the point made by the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) about youth and student engagement. The only limit is our creativity. A lot of this is not about huge investment, but about creativity of thought.

[Sarah Edwards]

I thank my hon. Friend for his compelling point about the role of parliamentarians and how we can engage with our constituents and other organisations. I also pay tribute to the British high commission, which did a lot of work to make sure that our trip went well and is hugely important in engaging our businesses right across the country. I have a specific shout-out to Harjinder Kang, the trade commissioner, who has done some excellent work. Will my hon. Friend also pay tribute to the work that will continue?

[Dan Aldridge]

Absolutely. All the officials we worked with were fantastic.

The UK-India tech security initiative is the right framework at the right moment. It covers the technologies that will define this country and it brings together Government, industry and academia. It has the backing of both Prime Ministers and cross-party support. We must ensure that the ambition of the TSI is matched by delivery and that it is felt in towns across the country, including Tamworth, Weston-super-Mare and Worle, because the India of 2047 will be one of the world’s biggest economies—if not the biggest—and a technological superpower and confident global leader. It is being built right now, and the question for Britain and our constituents is a simple one: do we want to be part of that story? I believe we do, and we should run towards it.