UK aid could help fix the world – but not under Boris Johnson’s plans

Global inequality can be thwarted. But UK has to return to playing a key role in shaping the development agenda for the decades to come

Labour is the party of global justice. In 1964 we were the first party to establish a separate Ministry of Overseas Development. The last Labour government created the Department for International Development, tripled the aid budget and cancelled debt to some of the world’s poorest countries.

We are rightly proud of that record and we must defend it against the inevitable onslaught from Boris Johnson’s government.

For many in the cabinet, international development is at best an afterthought. At worst, it is a budget to be cut and a department to be abolished.

Johnson himself has called for DfID to be folded into the Foreign Office and argued the development budget shouldn’t just go where it is most desperately needed, but where it furthers the UK’s “political and indeed commercial objectives”.

UK aid spending saves lives every single day. It tackles extreme poverty, protects human rights and helps to build a fairer world.

That’s why it is so important that DfID retains its departmental independence and that we hold the government to its commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of the national income on aid.

DfID has a strong international reputation for innovative and groundbreaking development work – we need to retain that skill and expertise, not dilute it by merging with other departments. Even more fundamentally, the FCO and DfID have very different objectives – the FCO’s is “to promote the UK’s interests overseas, supporting our citizens and businesses around the globe”; whereas DfID’s is to “lead the UK’s work to end extreme poverty”.

This matters. Our development work should always be about spreading power, wealth and opportunity to the world’s least advantaged. It cannot be about boosting British power or finding new markets for British firms. Merging the two departments would not only send entirely the wrong message about the UK’s commitment to helping those who need it most; it would also affect the quality and reach of our development programmes.

That’s why I’m urging the prime minister not to abolish the DfID in the reshuffle and to ensure that a dedicated secretary of state remains in the cabinet.

But opposing Tory plans to hollow out Britain’s international development commitments and reduce development spending must be only the first step for Labour.

We need to rethink and refresh our international development strategy for the 2020s and 2030s. We must build on the achievements of the last Labour government, and go further by addressing the huge and unresolved developments challenges – in particular global inequality, gender inequality and the climate emergency.

We are now faced with staggering levels of global inequality of every kind: wealth, power, health, education. When 82 per cent of global wealth created in a year goes to 1 per cent of the global population, and 3.7 billion people see no increase in their wealth, we know that the structure of global economy is broken. Maintaining the status quo isn’t an option.

I believe in a human rights-based approach to development that not only lifts people out of poverty but addresses the structural injustices which entrench it. Global inequality is not inevitable: it is the result of a failed system and the inability of governments to tackle injustice. We need to put tackling inequality at the heart of a development agenda for the 2020s and 2030s.

We also need to recognise that women bear the brunt of global poverty and inequality, and are often excluded from the economic opportunities, education and critical healthcare they need to break the cycle of deprivation. As a result, the majority of the world’s poor are women. Hundreds of millions of women around the world are denied their basic rights and gender-based violence blights the lives of women and girls everywhere. Without security and equality, women are systematically excluded from prosperity. No serious development agenda can leave this injustice unaddressed.

The fight for climate justice must also be an intrinsic part of any future-looking development strategy.

From the cyclones which devastated southern Africa last year to the mass displacement caused by Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas, the worst effects of global warming hit poorer communities the hardest. The climate emergency threatens livelihoods and forces families from their homes, pushing people into poverty. A clean, healthy and functioning environment is integral to the fulfilment of fundamental rights to life, health, food and security. We cannot support and empower the world’s poorest people without tackling the climate emergency. It must be at the heart of everything we do as a party.

Another world is possible, but it needs the UK to once again play a key role in shaping the development agenda for the decades to come.

If I am elected leader of the Labour Party, I will ensure that we build on our proud international development record and that we lead the fight for a more just and peaceful world.

Sir Keir Starmer is shadow Brexit secretary and a Labour leadership contender