The Department for International Development is the second largest donor to developing countries in the entire world. Under Labour, Britain led and inspired the world’s approach to international development through innovation, advocacy and international partnerships. We were global leaders in supporting the poorest and most vulnerable around the world.
Over the last five years, the Tories have let our reputation slip by being passengers not drivers of the international agenda. The next Labour government will once again lead by example.
Labour understands that our commitment to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable is not just morally right, it is in Britain’s national interest. Labour cancelled debt, trebled the aid budget and set the United Kingdom on track to be the first major economy to reach the 0.7 per cent target.
We pledged the UK’s biggest ever investment in fighting HIV and Aids; helped to get some 40 million more children into school; improved water or sanitation services for over 1.5 million people. DFID led in helping developing countries adapt to climate change, helping protect more than 300,000 Bangladeshis from flooding and supporting Caribbean countries develop better early warning systems.
There is a clear choice at the next election. Five more years of a Tory government that treats the aid budget as charity or a Labour government that will fight for justice for the world’s poorest.
David Cameron’s end of term report does not make for impressive reading. The Government failed to legislate to ensure 0.7 of GNI is spent on aid which took a private member’s bill and the backing of Labour members of parliament to pass.
In the last year of government, Labour spent £56m on private sector development. Under this government this budget is expected to rise exponentially to £1.8bn.
While I recognise the role of the private sector in creating jobs both at home and abroad, I am concerned that much of this money is being paid to an organisation that the public accounts committee said provides ‘insufficient analysis and scrutiny’. Rather than the ideologically driven trickle-down economics of the Conservative party, this money should be invested on the condition of decent work, fair pay, clean supply chains and the right to join a trade union. Labour will work with business to help them achieve just that.
Ploughing money into large public-private partnerships glory projects will not create sustainable development. Like spending £192m of taxpayer’s money on a new airport for the upper-middle income country St Helena – with a population of 4,200.
Labour has a plan to crack down on tax avoidance and evasion which costs developing countries three times more than they receive in aid. We will ensure tax justice by enforcing a public register of beneficial ownership, this will include our overseas territories and Crown dependencies, and we will double our spending on strengthening tax systems in developing countries.
We have an opportunity to demonstrate the difference in our approach and reclaim our role as a global leader in the first six months of the next government – first at the Sustainable Development Goal conference in September and then the United Nations Climate Change conference in December.
Labour will look to build relationships and find international partners to champion a standalone goal for universal health coverage and climate change.
This is the biggest election for a generation. This year has the potential to be a game-changer, for Britain and for development. With Labour in government, we will make fighting inequality the running thread of everything we do. We will demonstrate leadership, champion human rights for all and work towards creating a world where the only limit to a child’s ambition is their imagination.
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Anas Sarwar MP is shadow minister for international development. He tweets @AnasSarwar
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