Brexit, whatever its faults, allows us to think big, and India makes a natural partner for Britain’s AI goals, writes Brandon Lewis
Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s declaration that AI will be at the heart of the agenda at next year’s Manchester-hosted G20 summit demonstrates two obvious truths. Firstly, AI governance is an era-defining issue in which Britain aspires to a leading role. Secondly, this cannot be achieved without constructive partnership and multilateral cooperation.
Key to these partnerships will be reciprocity and mutual benefit. While a totally sovereign AI capability is desirable, it is out of reach for the host of ambitious countries that nevertheless find themselves behind the US and China in this great technological arms race. The challenge facing them, therefore, is how to forge strategic alliances that leverage their existing assets in the most effective way.
Outside of the EU – which has shown itself too prone to over-regulation – Britain can look to broad horizons when it comes to these choices. But there are two outstanding candidates which spring to mind, the UAE and India.
Our strengths could not be more complementary when it comes to India. While the UK boasts elite research universities and hosts cutting-edge frontier research as the home of DeepMind, India’s vast human capital, technical talent and expertise deploying technology at a scale are sorely lacking at home.
This creates the potential for a genuine two-way corridor of mutual benefit, linking British research, capital and entrepreneurship with India’s extraordinary pool of engineers, founders and technical talent. Knowledge and commerce can flow in both directions, creating a more seamless bridge between research and market than currently exists anywhere else in the world.
Crucially, India brings a remarkable appetite for technological change to the table. India is already a deeply connected country, with more than 900m smartphone users and a population whose median age is nearly 12 years younger than the UK’s. It’s no wonder that, according to YouGov, 46 per cent of Indians contend that the present level of AI regulation is sufficient, compared to just eight per cent of Brits. Not only does this create unprecedented markets for the latest innovations from the UK’s frontier development, but these contrasting instincts are in fact a source of strength rather than friction. Britain’s instinct for safeguards and scrutiny can be balanced by India’s penchant for experimentation and rapid adoption. The combination of responsible development and big, ambitious thinking may well provide the best of both worlds.
A natural continuation
Moreover, intensifying British-Indian cooperation on AI would be a logical continuation of what is already happening. In July, the UK-India Free Trade Agreement came into effect, substantially reducing tariffs on well over 90 per cent of the goods traded between the two countries. On tech policy, the agreement gives e-contracts legal validity in both jurisdictions, whilst taking steps to protect the intellectual property of tech companies. As Lord Chancellor, I worked to ensure that the growth of the UK’s digital and cyber domains included opportunities for our legal services community and, put together, these provisions help place us at the cutting edge of this developing frontier, streamlining and protecting British-Indian commerce, whilst ensuring that it is conducted at the most sophisticated digital level.
And it doesn’t stop there. In 2025, the India-UK Vision 2035 framework was published, which committed both nations to exploring all avenues for deeper collaboration. It resulted in £24m in funding for an India-UK joint centre for AI, advancing responsible and trustworthy AI across health, climate, fintech and cybersecurity.
This is encouraging progress, and Britain simply must build on what is there by taking advantage of a pre-existing shared Commonwealth heritage and diaspora populations. Britain and India have between them a world-beating research capacity, market size and enthusiasm for progress, and a built-in cultural understanding that makes hand-in-glove partnership possible.
If Britain is serious about playing a leading role in the AI age, it cannot afford to think of technological sovereignty as technological isolation. Brexit, whatever its faults, allows us to think big and think global in the search for constructive collaboration, and India makes a natural partner, with complementary strengths, shared institutions and an appetite for technological progress.
As the government develops its AI message ahead of the G20, it will doubtless stress the importance of partnership. It would be a mistake not to build upon the encouraging progress of the last two years and hold up the India-UK corridor as one of its clearest examples.
Brandon Lewis is a former minister and Conservative party chairman