The United Kingdom’s aid budget could be withheld from funding development programs in countries that refuse to help take back “failed asylum seekers” if Rishi Sunak becomes prime minister.
The former chancellor, who was responsible for cutting the 0.7% aid budget, revealed plans to make official development assistance a part of his playbook for tackling illegal migration to the U.K. during a campaign event in Birmingham Tuesday. Sunak is competing with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to become the next prime minister.
“We've got to get tougher with foreign policy,” Sunak told the audience. “Right now, we have this situation which is extraordinary, that we will go to a country, we’ll talk to them about a trade deal we want to do, we’ll also give them foreign aid to help their country, but at the same time we are not asking them, or requesting, or demanding, that they also take back their failed asylum seekers. That’s wrong and we’ve got to change that as well,” he continued.
“When we are choosing where to provide aid … I think it's entirely reasonable that if we’re thinking about where we can do that, we do it with countries that are happy to help us and take back their failed asylum seekers,” added Sunak.
“There’s a difference between humanitarian emergencies, which of course we’re always going to be responsive to, but then situations where we have ongoing aid programs in countries which we have had for years and at the same time that country is not taking back its failed asylum seekers,” he said.
Sunak repeated a comment made last month that he would depart from the European Union’s definition of an asylum seeker. His “ten point plan for Britain” includes tackling illegal migration by “tightening rules on asylum.”
Under his aid cuts policy as chancellor, the U.K.’s humanitarian programs have suffered greatly along with development programs, to the point where experts believe lives have been lost as a result.
Sunak said his approach was “practical commonsense” and he believed the “vast majority of the British people will absolutely support, and we should not be shy about pursuing a policy like that.”
While Sunak is not favored to beat Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in the race to become prime minister, his comments pulled the aid debate on dangerous ground for development advocates, who widely believe aid should be dispersed where it is needed, rather than for the U.K.’s political advantage. Most NGOs have been staying silent on the issue during the Conservative leadership race.
Truss has so far not detailed what the aid policy of her potential premiership would look like.
About the author
William Worley@willrworley
Will Worley is the Climate Correspondent for Devex, covering the intersection of development and climate change. He previously worked as UK Correspondent, reporting on the FCDO and British aid policy during a time of seismic reforms. Will’s extensive reporting on the UK aid cuts saw him shortlisted for ‘Specialist Journalist of the Year’ in 2021 by the British Journalism Awards. He can be reached at william.worley@devex.com.
