The U.K. Conservative Party’s pledge to allot 0.7 percent of Britain’s gross national income for development assistance “probably increases the likelihood of 0.7 percent being written into law in the next parliament,” said Lawrence Haddad of the U.K. Institute of Development Studies.
Legislating such aid commitment may be “helpful” but not necessarily a guarantee of aid delivery, Haddad cautioned.
“Manifesto pledges are not always met. The bill may not happen. And if it does happen, the draft version of the bill gives the Secretary of State some rather easy outs if progress to the target is not being met,” he wrote on his blog. “And with a bill in place to incentivise the ramp up of spending there needs to be a stronger set of safeguards as to what kind of overseas development assistance the 0.7% bucket can be filled up with.”
