Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale
Main Page: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Lab)
My Lords, I draw attention to my interests in the register, in particular my occasional mediation work for the World Bank and the CHD.
I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Featherstone, on not just securing this debate, which is timely and essential, but her excellent introduction that has very clearly laid out the issues in front of us. I am particularly pleased to see so many speakers from these Benches in this debate and so many new Members of your Lordships’ House taking part, including the two maiden speeches that I look forward to with great anticipation.
The new Labour Members of your Lordships’ House taking part in this debate reflects the renewed interest in development, conflict prevention and peacebuilding in the other place, where many of the new Members of Parliament elected in 2024 show a deep interest in these causes. They are the post-2005 generation inspired by the actions of a Labour Government bringing the world together in Gleneagles to secure some of the biggest changes in development and conflict prevention that we had ever seen. We were all proud of that action. When I joined your Lordships’ House in 2010, I was proud to see the new Government build on that approach and the success of the leadership that the Labour Government here had shown. That included the commitment shown by Ministers on the other side, such as the noble Baroness, Lady Sugg, and the noble Lord, Lord Bates, who are participating today.
It was particularly disappointing when, this time last year, our new Labour Government chose to focus only on hard power, to reduce their commitment to soft power and to cut the ODA budget so severely. The cruelty of those cuts and the blunt decision made by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor will be seen in all its glory over the coming months as allocations are announced. It is not too late to change that approach and to recognise that hard power and soft power have to go together. I hope that this will not be the first Labour Government in history to spend less money than the Conservatives on ODA and conflict prevention worldwide.
Of the biggest powers economically and diplomatically in the world, the UK led the debate on defence, diplomacy and development and the need to integrate these three approaches globally when we were in government. We supported the actions of the following Government when we were in opposition. Today countries are not reducing ODA and their commitment to international support; Canada, Italy and Japan are all in the G7 and are all committing to continue their development assistance. Interestingly for today—because the Prime Minister is visiting China—I note that China is increasing its international intervention; we might not agree with the way it does it all the time, but it recognises the strategic importance of that in a world where many powers among the democracies are reducing their support. We should not join that race to the bottom. Whether or not the budget is cut over the coming weeks, within the Foreign Office budget we must prioritise conflict prevention, soft power and peacebuilding. These are vital in a world where disorder and instability are increasingly impacting the lives of everyone, particularly the most vulnerable.
The UK has the academic expertise, the history of government intervention, the cultural institutions and the charitable organisations that are a source of great strength in this area. Our military should be stronger, but it also has great strengths in building peace as well as fighting war. We need a dedicated budget for conflict prevention, a genuine commitment to the women, peace and security agenda, not just warm words, and a strategic commitment to put the UK at the centre of this effort globally, as a trusted and reliable partner. We owe that to the many millions—in fact, hundreds of millions—of children affected by violence and conflict around the world today who need us more than ever.