The Labour Campaign for International Development were delighted to be approved as an official socialist society affiliated to the Labour party by the NEC at conference last month.
From creating the UK’s first Ministry of Overseas Development under Harold Wilson, to campaigning against apartheid, to trebling aid, securing debt relief and establishing DFID as a world-leading development ministry under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, internationalism is in our party’s DNA.
We can be extremely proud of that record. But make no mistake – our leadership against poverty didn’t happen by chance. It didn’t happen because of statistics or facts, however compelling. It didn’t happen because of petitions or protests, however weighty or loud. It happened by choice – political decisions taken by Labour ministers in elected office.
And of course that applies around the world – it is no coincidence that Brazil has taken unprecedented steps to reduce inequality under the Partido dos Trabalhadores, nor that India is taking steps towards universal health coverage under an India National Congress-led government.
LCID exists to do everything we can to help elect and keep a Labour government in power that continues Britain’s leadership against global poverty and inequality. But as we grow LCID, we must in our next stage look to work to build our relationships with our sister parties around to world to try and help in whatever way we can to get more social democratic governments get elected.
Of course, as a young and growing organisation we are humble about our influence and impact. But we would really like to work closely with others in the party and the movement to explore, for example, what reforms we might propose to modernise Socialist International and make it fit for purpose? How might we upscale the great work the International Office of ours is doing through the Westminster Foundation for Democracy to support sister parties across the developing world? And what can we learn from them and programmes like Brazil’s bolsa família as we plot our return to power in the UK? The Young Fabians ran a trip to the United States last year to help Barack Obama be re-elected – why not a trip to help Manmohan Singh’s INC retain control of the Lok Sabha? We hope LCID can organise one in the future.
Increasing inequality is entrenching poverty, rising unemployment is hampering aspirations, and damaging climate change is devastating communities. These are global problems requiring global solutions – cooperation; Keynesian economics; progressive taxation; fairer trade; green jobs; social protection; universal health and education. These are social democratic solutions based on social democratic values – and they require social democratic governments to implement them.
We hope LCID can help in whatever we can – and we hope you’ll join us in that fight by becoming a member and getting involved.
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Claire Leigh is co-chair of the Labour Campaign for International Development. She tweets @ClaireLeighLab
There should not be a 0.7% or aid fetish. Any development economist or political scientist can tell you that more aid is not the silver bullet for development
As someone that has been involved in globalization for the common good and the issue of poverty and social exclusion, a particular issue would be to look at the urgent role of the UN and its agencies and a must to seek to less business led models to more development models that are not based just on market forces. Their is a need for fairer distribution and keep aid as a positive force for help those nations people that suffer the battle of invisibility and poverty as a nations future is its people. As Adam smith, stated economics to be bounded by morals and ethics.