Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy

Lord Purvis of Tweed Excerpts

Thursday 22nd April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)]

My Lords, the telling phrase is in part V of the review. On page 97, paragraph 2, it says:

“‘Integration’ is not a new theme in the UK’s approach to national security, although the language used to describe it has varied over time.”


Language is important. On development co-operation, the language of a United Kingdom Prime Minister, at the start of this, described UK development assistance as

“a great cashpoint in the sky”.

That was the message from this Government to the world. On page 5, the language on aid is

“we will return to our commitment to spend 0.7% of gross national income on development when the fiscal situation allows.”

I have asked the noble Lord, Lord Ahmad, three times, including today, what these fiscal criteria are, and there has been no answer. The Government either know and are refusing to tell Parliament—which is an undemocratic outrage—or this is just more disingenuous language that warrants no trust.

Only one part of the integrated review has been underpinned by law, and the Government are acting unlawfully in contradiction to it, by halving UK bilateral aid assistance. How integrated is it, when the Government say it will be a soft power—as my noble friend Lady Northover indicated—but, in the preceding three years, the Government said the soft power strategy was imminent, only for it ditched as Brexit made it inconvenient?

The Africa strategy that the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, referred to was imminent but was never published. Theresa May promised that the UK would be the largest investor in Africa. China took note because of its strategic debt policy. China noticed even more when Boris Johnson ditched that approach. What is our approach to investment in Africa? What guides us on this? Annex B, on evidence and engagement, says in paragraph 2 that

“we undertook a systematic programme of engagement, analysis and challenge.”

On the breaking of the law and cutting UK bilateral aid by the greatest amount ever, the statement is not true—especially on Yemen. On 3 March, I asked the Minister what impact assessment had been carried out on halving support for Yemen. The noble Lord, Lord Ahmad, refused to answer. On Tuesday, Chris Bold, the development director for Yemen at the FCDO, told the Commons committee:

“We haven’t done an impact assessment.”


Halving support for the poorest people in the world, during the worst humanitarian crisis on earth, is a moral stain on this Government. Nothing in this integrated review means anything if we can do this without an assessment of the impact on them, our global reputation, and our partners, by the resignation of leadership. If one of the richest countries in the world can halve support to the poorest people in the world, there is no moral compass to guide anything else in this review. We are not just cutting aid; we are cutting co-operation. We are not just cutting by half our position as a donor; we are a less reliable partner to all those we have worked with to this point.