International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill

Debate between Lord Spicer and Lord Lawson of Blaby

Friday 6th February 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lawson of Blaby]

The reason for changing the Bill in this way to make it less bad is the contents of the Bill. The contents of the Bill are highly relevant. If I may quote—

[Lord Spicer (Con)]

I have a question which is directly relevant to the amendment. Yesterday, I was told that we cannot ring-fence the defence budget. What is the difference between that and ring-fencing the foreign aid budget?

[Lord Lawson of Blaby]

That is a question for the promoters of this Bill, not for me. However, it is certainly a good question. I am not in favour of any kind of ring-fencing, whether it is aid, defence or anything else.

In defence of my own record, let me refer to the definitive IMF study published in 1999 entitled, From Toronto Terms to the HIPC Initiative: A Brief History of Debt Relief for Low-Income Countries. There it states—