Integrated Review: Development Aid

Lord Khan of Burnley Excerpts

Wednesday 28th April 2021 Grand Committee

[Lord Khan of Burnley (Lab)]

My Lords, yesterday, I had the great pleasure of attending the Lord Speaker’s lecture. In his concluding remarks, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Clarke of Nottingham, described it as shocking for the Government not to put these UK development aid cuts to a vote. The reduction in direct aid spending on water and sanitation in the world’s poorest countries by 80% of spend is catastrophic. Our UK public views water, sanitation and hygiene as a priority area for UK aid because hand hygiene is widely recognised as a critical intervention to counter the spread of Covid-19.

It is beyond belief that this should happen just months ahead of the G7 and COP 26 climate summits, at which the UK wants to show global leadership. The cuts mean that a staggering 10 million people stand to lose out on gaining access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene facilities this year, in the midst of a pandemic, according to WaterAid UK, the leading British charity in this area.

Providing clean drinking water to the world’s poorest has proved to be one of the most cost-effective ways of improving health and productivity across the developing world in recent decades. Does the Minister agree with Pauline Latham, MP for Mid Derbyshire, who warned Ministers not to balance the books

“on the backs of the poor”?—[Official Report, Commons, 16/3/21; col. 176.]

There is never a good time to cut aid for life-saving water and sanitation, but the middle of the worst pandemic for 100 years must be one of the worst. As the only G7 nation to cut aid, we are retreating from our moral duty by doing this, recklessly putting us out of step with our closest allies and making a joke of the fact that we are an internationalist and outward-looking country.

The Minister and I share a passion for visiting schools and trying to inspire the next generation. How can we look these young children in the eye when they ask, “Why are you cutting the global education budget, which affects our brothers and sisters across the world?” The noble Baroness, Lady Chalker of Wallasey, referred to pressing appropriate buttons: with this decision, the Government are pressing all the wrong ones.