Aid watchdog sounds alarm at UK’s post-Brexit ‘Global Britain’ aid agenda

By TruePublica: The government has a target to spend 0.7% of the UK’s Gross National Income on overseas development aid each year. By 2021 Britain could be spending about £14.5 billion, based on the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecasts and as Brexit puts more pressure on the government to broaden its business appeal more widely – research now shows that the government is increasingly putting UK economic and business benefits at the heart of its aid agenda.

 

The primary focus of Britain’s aid budget to foreign countries is poverty reduction. And yet – the concept is becoming increasingly prominent in government policies and internal documents attempting to improve UK trade and investment opportunities and using the architecture of the City of London to achieve its new, rather more clandestine aims. Independent Commissioner for Aid Impact (ICAI) commissioner Tamsyn Barton said: “Our research shows that the government is increasingly putting UK economic and business benefits at the heart of its aid agenda.”

For instance – the £1.2bn cross-government Prosperity Fund, established in 2016, is identified as the clearest example of UK aid being used to deliver secondary benefits to UK business.

The report notes that focus on using aid in this way appears to have further intensified since the Brexit vote, with some government documents explicitly linking mutual prosperity to the ‘Global Britain’ agenda to reposition the UK internationally and build ties with a wider range of countries.

 

The report notes that focus on using aid in this way appears to have further intensified since the Brexit vote, with some government documents explicitly linking mutual prosperity to the ‘Global Britain’ agenda to reposition the UK internationally and build ties with a wider range of countries.

 

ICAI also recognised that some recipient countries prefer aid that promotes trading relationships, seeing it as the basis of a more equal, long-term partnership. However, the report warns that programmes with more immediate economic benefits to the UK, or in areas where the UK has particular expertise, could ultimately be favoured over those that could more effectively reduce poverty.

Additionally, the report highlights that DFID is increasingly being asked to contribute its time and expertise to support cross-government prosperity goals, creating a question over whether this is detracting from the department’s primary mission, and whether it is entirely compatible with being a trusted development partner.

Responding to this report by the ICAI on the UK’s government’s ‘mutual prosperity’ agenda Daniel Willis, campaigns and policy manager at Global Justice Now, said:

“As today’s report from ICAI highlights, the increasing influence of the ‘Global Britain’ agenda since the Brexit vote has accelerated the financialisation of UK aid policy with the City of London taking a leading role. There are numerous risks associated with this strategy: not only is it ineffective at tackling poverty, it means that aid money is being spent on private schools, cosmetic surgery clinics and environmentally damaging industries in developing countries. British financial institutions are not the best placed organisations to judge how development funding should be spent.

“The situation is far worse than ICAI actually states because promoting trade and investment is not necessarily a positive thing for both parties. In fact, this agenda is likely to exacerbate global inequalities by undermining regulation overseas, robbing developing countries of the tools they need to fight poverty, inequality and climate change. Furthermore, as previous ICAI reports have highlighted, there is a complete lack of transparency and accountability over how aid is spent, and the government has virtually no idea if its investments are actually effective at reducing poverty.
 
“This is particularly worrying as the government prepares for a UK-Africa Investment summit in January 2020 at which it aims to further promote the City of London as a leading development finance hub. This is not development as we know it, but a new scramble for Africa with British banks at the helm.”

 

If the point about the foreign aid budget is poverty reduction – then that is what taxpayers have explicitly agreed to. If not, it should be in a general election manifesto to direct those funds to increase global business opportunities and/or renamed so that it properly reflects what taxpayers money is being used for. Deceiving the world that 0.7% of national GDP is being used for humanitarian purposes such as combatting poverty is just that – a deception.

(ICAI, the UK’s aid watchdog, is responsible for ensuring UK aid is spent effectively for those who need it most while delivering value for money for taxpayers. ICAI’s research included a review of government documents and previous ICAI reports, a review of five sample Prosperity Fund business cases, interviews with government staff, and focus group discussions with civil society, businesses and academic experts.)

 

 

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