Labour vows to cut number of countries receiving UK aid

Labour plans to significantly cut the number of countries receiving United Kingdom aid if it takes power this year, to return spending to its “original purpose of eliminating global poverty.” Lisa Nandy, who will be international development minister if her party wins this year’s election, highlighted a dramatic leap in the number of recipient countries — up from just 33 when Labour left office in 2010 to 88 under the Conservative government. Speaking at a London think tank event, Nandy said rising indebtedness and the need to mitigate the threat from climate change meant aid money had been “diverted to middle-income countries simply to help them stand still.” “We will never pull out the rug from under countries that rely on us,” she insisted, but Labour would pursue “a more strategic approach” to zero in on tackling extreme poverty. Speaking to Devex later, Nandy added: “We want to get to the point where we're able to spend our aid money on the poorest people, in the poorest countries in the world. ​​That's what it was always intended to do, and increasingly it isn't.” Nandy stressed changes would be made gradually, taking into account the challenges of debt and climate mitigation, and that the U.K. would continue to support a large number of countries through multilateral funding. During the event, hosted by the ODI think tank, the shadow minister also: • Said debt restructuring was “the single biggest thing we can do” to help low-income nations — hinting Labour will extend the use of loan guarantees to bring down the cost of borrowing. • Revealed Labour would shift the aid budget away from bilateral spending — saying: “We are really determined to move towards a far greater emphasis on multilateral working and funding.” • Acknowledged the U.K.’s “severely strained relationship with the global south” — which she blamed on chaotic aid cuts and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s description of the aid budget as a “giant cashpoint in the sky,” as well as tensions over the Gaza crisis. • Said Labour would return to spending 0.7% of gross national income on aid “as soon as circumstances allow” — but set out no economic tests for reversing the 2020 cut to 0.5%. • Vowed to pursue the localization of aid to “put people back in charge of their own destiny” — by tackling “cultural” opposition to that at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. • Pledged to put human rights at the heart of her development policy — saying introducing “flying the Pride flag over our embassies in countries where loving who you love is a crime” was one of Labour’s “proudest” acts when last in power. • Criticized calling the U.K. a “development superpower” in the past — saying “There’s an absurdity about this sort of language, about dominating something that will only ever be achieved if we do it in partnership.” • Argued the moral case for aid spending is “an argument we can win” without falling back on “self-interested arguments” — saying: “The public is in a far better place than the politicians that have been leading them.” Labour, with a 20-point lead in the polls, remains on course to win the general election, expected in October or November, which would end a 14-year period out of power. The party is still considering whether to restore a separate aid department — after the abolition of the Department for International Development in 2020 — or opt instead for an independent agency within FCDO. With funding certain to be tight for years to come, Nandy said leveraging greater private finance — not a bigger government aid budget — would be the key to progress toward stamping out poverty. “I was astonished to find that, in many African countries, only 10% of the development money they are able to access is private finance. We're not going to solve this problem from me sitting in the department with a relatively small budget,” she said. Update, Feb. 29, 2024: This article has been updated to reflect details of the policy provided by a Labour Party source.