Category: Tory Threat
-
Mitchell’s ‘ouput-based’ crusade risks trying DfID in knots
by David Taylor, for Left Foot Forward Earlier today Left Foot Forward published a leaked document from the Department for International Development showing a list of nearly 100 public commitments recommended for the chop. But behind the headlines, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell’s “focus on outputs and outcomes” raises two key questions. Firstly, if close to 100…
-
Steve Cockburn asks: value for money – for who?
Writing for Progressonline, Steve Cockburn (LCID executive member), questions whether the recent calls from the Government to get value for money is truthfully aimed at furthering the interests of British foreign policy, rather than alleviating poverty. Some recent Government decisions back up Steve’s argument: One recent warning sign is the decision to spend what could…
-
Questions grow over DfID’s ‘ring-fenced’ budget
Rumours over the security of DfID’s budget have been mounting over the last few weeks. Today in the Guardian, Madeleine Bunting raises questions over the pressure coming from the Right for Cameron’s government to change their approach to the international development budget. The Coalition Government came to power promising to ring-fence international development spending, yet…
-
Foreign Office “planning a raid on DfID’s cash and on its turf”
The Financial Times website today carries a disturbing story on the future of DfID funding. This comes just weeks after an election when the now-Government pledged to ringfence DfID funding and that principle’s affirmation in the Coalition Document. According to Sue Cameron at the FT, the Foreign Office is “planning a raid on [DfID’s] cash…
-
Read Douglas Alexander’s speech to LCID
On Tuesday 29 June, Douglas Alexander spoke at an LCID event about the future of International Development. You can read the full text of his speech here: “Thank you David for that kind introduction – and for the valuable work you and other members of the Labour Campaign for International Development have undertaken in recent…
-
The Tories should introduce the Robin Hood Tax if they truly want to help the poor
The emergency budget is to be on June 22 and David Cameron has already begun to try and soften the ground. The pain, he states, will be felt by everyone. This is worrying and could be avoided by the introduction of the Robin Hood Tax, says the ippr. One of the ways of raising much…
-
Our letter on aid gets mentioned in The Guardian
Today The Guardian notes our letter to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on our concerns the ConDem Government is trying to water down the UK’s aid budget. Read the article here (see the bottom paragraph).
-
Letter to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury: UK spending on Overseas Development Assistance
Last week, the Coalition Government announced in it’s programme for International Development that it would “stick to the rules laid down by the OECD about what spending counts as aid.” But many NGOs are critical of the OECD’s laws, with organisations such as Aid Watch arguing that many EU Governments count non-aid items as aid…
-
Vote 2010: International development – A big choice election
First published on Left Foot Forward. International development has not grabbed the headlines in this election – and that’s a great shame, because not only has it meant a worrying lack of scrutiny of the Conservative Party’s aid policies, but it has hidden from view one of Labour’s most progressive and positive achievements of the last…
-
Labour’s Manifesto on International Development
Extract from Labour’s manifesto The global poverty emergency: our moral duty, our common interest Labour’s international leadership on development has helped transform the lives of millions across the world. Yet too many people still live in extreme poverty, die from treatable diseases, or are denied the chance to go to school. We will lead an…
Labour Campaign for International Development 