Labour have this afternoon criticised the foreign secretary’s plans for the future of UK international development.
Labour’s shadow international development minister Preet Kaur Gill said the public would prefer an aid budget that was geared toward: “help[ing] those most in need around the world, not horse-traded for favours to big British corporations”.
She went on: “Where once we led, this strategy risks relegating Britain to a secondary role in the international order.”
Foreign secretary Liz Truss said today that the new strategy will use British International Investment and other tools to provide “honest and reliable finance to help low- and middle-income countries take control of their futures, giving them an alternative so they are not burdened with unsustainable debt with strings attached.”
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The government claims that the strategy will rebalance aid budget towards bilateral programs, which will allow the government to have greater control over how money is spent.
Truss also explained: “In an increasingly geopolitical world, we must use development as a key part of our foreign policy. Malign actors use economics and the development process as a tool of control. They use patronage, investment, and debt to exert economic power and economic coercion. We won’t mirror their malign tactics, but we will match them in our resolve to provide an alternative.”
“The new strategy, launched today, will ensure that our international development work brings benefit across the globe and here at home. Our strategy will deepen economic, security and development ties globally, while delivering jobs and growth in both the UK and partner countries,” she continued.
Truss claims the plans will reduce red tape and excess bureaucracy in delivering aid. Ambassadors and High Commissioners will have greater authority to get programmes on the ground quickly. This will reduce the time it takes for business cases to be approved to less than six weeks.
Truss also stressed that the plans will “sustain” the UK’s “commitment” to Africa and ensure our development programmes in the Indo-Pacific remain a critical part of our ambition to increase our focus on the region.
The chair of parliament’s international development committee, which scrutinises Foreign Office spending on aid, Sarah Champion MP, criticised the new strategy, arguing: “This scant document is little more than a rehash of existing slogans when what the aid sector needs is vision.
“The foreign secretary’s strategy has two main thrusts. It advocates aid for trade – linking the provision of aid to access for UK goods and services. And it says more of our money should go on direct government-to-government spending rather than spending through international bodies such as the United Nations.
“I fear that adds up to a double whammy against the global poor.”
“Aid for trade is dangerous. It can distort the core, legally-stipulated purpose of our assistance – which is to support the poorest and most vulnerable whether in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa or in Ukraine. It is not right to conditionally support the poorest people in the world on the conclusion of trade deals or the acceptance of investment partnerships. This approach has been criticized by the UK, and I find it disappointing that we are continuing down the same path. It is depressing and disappointing that the UK would devise a strategy like this.”
