Speech by MP, Shadow
Cabinet Minister for International Development
Can I just start by paying tribute to David? What a fantastic
Foreign Secretary you will be.
22 years ago, Nelson Mandela stood before this Conference. He
told us then that Labour’s solidarity had “helped make those
years of exile bearable”.
Conference, today, international solidarity and Britain’s
leadership has never mattered more. The world faces energy, debt
and food crises. The climate emergency wreaks havoc, from drought
in East Africa to floods in Pakistan. 100 million people are now
displaced around the world. 50 million people are on the brink of
famine.
But Conference, when times are tough, that is exactly when we
stand up to be counted. The last Labour government changed lives
at home, from Sure Start to the minimum wage. But we also changed
lives overseas: creating the world-class Department for
International Development; and, at Gleneagles, canceling hundreds
of millions of pounds of unjust debt.
But Conference, twelve years of Tory rule has taken its toll:
DFID shut down; aid repurposed and diverted away from tackling
poverty; our international reputation in tatters. And in the
middle of a global pandemic, they carried out the cruellest cuts
imaginable to life-saving aid programmes.
The Tories were warned by their own impact assessment that cuts
would devastate women and girls at risk of violence. But they
went ahead anyway. They were warned by the security services that
aid cuts would risk our national security. But they went ahead
anyway. Ex-PMs and International Development Secretaries from
their own party queued up to warn that the cuts would cost
hundreds of thousands of lives. But they went ahead anyway.
Well, Conference, their development strategy has failed. And
Boris Johnson’s ideological merger has failed.
It now falls to Labour to undo that damage and earn back the
trust of Britain’s partners. Keir was absolutely right when he
called the closure of DFID “totally misguided” and “wrongheaded”,
and his commitment to international development speaks to who he
is.
So, just as 25 years ago, DFID was created to tackle the global
challenges we faced, a Labour government will put in place a new
model with the independence needed to meet the challenges of the
21st century: one that recognises the link between development
and climate. Its mission will be to deliver on the Sustainable
Development Goals.
We will reinstate Britain’s commitment to spend 0.7% of income on
aid.
And we will deliver a distinct development programme that brings
value for money and ends the government’s wasteful and
transactional approach.
The climate emergency is this century’s biggest threat to
humanity. That is why I am also announcing today that Labour will
legislate to make sure that, as a priority, Britain’s aid budget
helps address climate change.
Conference, I didn’t grow up with much. My mum was a seamstress,
my dad a bus driver. But I did grow up knowing the importance of
helping others. From when I first joined my dad volunteering at
the local Sikh Gurdwara where he was president, I saw that
helping neighbours makes us richer, not poorer.
Those values of service and solidarity flow through every corner
of our movement and our country. When the British people give up
their homes to Ukrainians fleeing Putin’s war, when we give to
charity appeals in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, we do
so not because it’s easy, but because it is right.
And frankly, when the Tories won’t support the British people’s
solidarity to the world; when they won’t even keep their
manifesto promises to voters on aid; when they throw more than
£100 billion of your money at the energy bosses, but then tell
you they can’t afford £5 billion to save lives overseas and make
Britain safer; well, Conference, I say: not in our name!
I for one will not rest until our values - Britain’s values - are
once again shaping what our government does in the world. In
Opposition, we are forcing U-turns from the Tories and winning
over voters fed up with their basic lack of compassion. So,
Conference, let’s keep the pressure up.
22 years ago, Mandela urged us to “become once more the keepers
of our brothers and sisters, no matter where they find themselves
in the world”. It is time to heed that call again. Our record on
international development gave hope to our allies in fighting for
a better world and with labour in government it will do so again.
We will back the next generation at home and abroad, demanding a
fairer, greener, global future. Conference, this is a reset
moment for the Sustainable Development Goals. It is time to renew
our movement to fight poverty and inequality and the climate
crisis.
, our leader, knows that a
Labour party that is true to its principles is a Labour Party
dedicated to winning power. So, let’s get into Downing Street, Labour
back into power, and a fairer, greener future for Britain.
