25 June, 2007
For immediate release
With
Gordon Brown about to take office, the Overseas Development
Institute (ODI) and All Party Parliamentary Group on Overseas
Development (APGOOD) convened a series of three public meetings
at which representatives from each of the three political
parties were invited to give their own perspectives on ‘What’s
next in international development?’
Gareth
Thomas MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International
Development spoke for Labour; Andrew Mitchell MP, Shadow
Secretary of State for International Development, spoke
for the Conservatives; together with Lynne Featherstone
MP, the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on International Development.
A
new ODI blog by ODI Director Simon Maxwell summarises the
three perspectives, assesses their similarities and differences,
and draws some conclusions about the possible future direction
of UK international development policy.
Simon
Maxwell says:
‘These
three speeches tell us something about the issues that will
shape political debate in the months to come. There is a
strong cross-party consensus on the importance of international
development, [and] on the view that aid is not enough on
its own. All three speakers discussed issues like trade,
conflict, climate change and migration. There are however,
some differences of emphasis in how much prominence is given
to these various issues.
‘Aid
effectiveness looks likely to be an important battle-ground,
especially if public expenditure is constrained in coming
years so that aid is increasing as other areas are being
cut. Corruption is another topic where, as Andrew Mitchell
put it, other parties will “go further” than
the Government. Lynne Featherstone’s remarks on this
topic suggested that she would agree. There was an interesting
difference of emphasis on the role of governments. Gareth
Thomas was emphatic that only Governments could underwrite
service provision, and was sceptical of the view that NGOs
could take on this job.’
(ENDS)
Notes
for Editors
1.
Written summaries, audio files and speeches (where available)
for each of the three political perspectives can be found
on the ODI website at:
http://www.odi.org.uk/speeches/apgood/international_development/index.html
2.
The new ODI blog by Simon Maxwell, entitled ‘Where
are the political divides on international development?’
can be found on the ODI website at:
http://blogs.odi.org.uk/blogs/main/archive/2007/06/22/3335.aspx
3.
Simon Maxwell and other ODI researchers are available for
interview, comment or background briefing about the future
of UK international development policy. Please contact Anna
Tublin, ODI Media and Events Officer, on tel: +44 (0)20
7922 0419 or email: a.tublin@odi.org.uk
4.
ODI is Britain’s leading independent think-tank on
international development and humanitarian issues. Its mission
is to inspire and inform policy and practice which lead
to the reduction of poverty, the alleviation of suffering
and the achievement of sustainable livelihoods in developing
countries. Locking together high-quality applied research,
practical policy advice and policy-focused dissemination
and debate, ODI works with partners in the public and private
sectors, in both developing and developed countries. Further
details can be found on the ODI website: www.odi.org.uk
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