Of course, India would love to get even more access to the UK but in practice that means visa-free travel for Indian IT professionals — this was spelt out at length by India’s prime minister Narendra Modi to May on her last trip there.
What Britain wants is access to India’s government procurement market and the removal of huge tariffs that protect its domestic industries from competition.
There is no particular reason why India should give up such protection in a solo deal with Britain that has so far proved unobtainable with a much bigger prize, such as the EU or US marketplaces.
And for India, the attraction of the UK is not as a product marketplace but as a place to get training, jobs, work experience that can then re-exported back to Indian software and professional service companies.
It’s the migration thing, the flow of people, the one thing that the Prime Minister has promised to curtail and that Brexit promised to end.
As the residue of an almost-forgotten empire, the Commonwealth has no trading significance.
It served its purpose as a place where Britain could once sell its manufactured goods, free of real competition.
Today, British Leyland and Imperial Chemical Industries are just fading memories of a cosy uncompetitive era.
India can buy better industrial products from Germany, Japan and Korea.
Commonwealth countries need to trade more with their neighbours, the first port of call where a business can find new customers and buying and selling begins. There is no reason for Caribbean nations to look across the Atlantic to Britain when the world’s biggest commercial market is in their backyard.
If the Commonwealth is to find a role in today’s world, it needs to stop staring at Britain and look to its own people and build opportunities at home. Brexit is not a Commonwealth problem and there is no reason why the Commonwealth must provide a solution.
