Official Development Assistance

Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale Excerpts

Thursday 27th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)]

My Lords—

[Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, we will hear from the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, next, and then from my noble friend Lord McConnell.

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

I come back to the point I made at the beginning, because I am absolutely passionate about this. When I visited African countries, they were concerned about ensuring that they have a proper tax base in their own country. That is why the HMRC—[Interruption.] The noble Lord does not need to shout at me. We have embedded people in a number of African countries to help them widen their tax base, and we are working collaboratively with partners to ensure that that happens. We want to see economic growth as the driver of change around the globe, and I am absolutely committed to that. I do not accept the hypocrisy argument that the noble Lord is making.

[Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Lab)]

My Lords, one of the more disappointing aspects of the Government’s decision was to retain payments through ODA towards refugee and asylum costs in the UK. The Government have promised to reduce those costs. Will any savings from ODA spending on hotels and other asylum and refugee costs in the UK be retained within ODA and therefore be freed to again increase the resources available for overseas development?

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My noble friend makes a very good point. The Home Office and the Government are absolutely committed to reducing those asylum and hotel costs in this country. Yesterday, it was also confirmed that the FCDO is no longer required to adjust budgets to hit a calendar year spending commitment. This is a positive change that means the FCDO will not automatically be exposed to the volatility of GNI or spending by other departments on, for example, asylum costs.