DI’s response to the UK government Integrated Review

In response to the publication of the UK government’s policy paper Global Britain in a Competitive Age: the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, Harpinder Collacott, Executive Director at DI said:

“The primary ambition of the review is hard to fault – there are clear benefits to increasing coherence between different aspects of the UK’s international policy, including defence, diplomacy and development. The emphasis on tackling climate change, promoting food security, building resilience and gender are some positive and welcome aspects.

“The review confirms the intention of returning to the commitment of spending 0.7% GNI on aid when the fiscal situation allows. However, we know that aid is dropping from £15 billion to £10 billion in 2021 and the review gives no clues about which areas are to be deprioritised in the face of drastically reduced budgets. Instead, we see promises to maintain commitments to Africa and increase development efforts in the Indo-Pacific region, for example.

“Based on budget cuts underway this year, we know the UK will have to make compromises. We must therefore infer, from the review’s lack of emphasis on these issues, that reducing inequality and targeting the people most at risk of being left behind will not be a focus for UK spending on development. This is worrying when we know the poorest 20% of the global population is likely to fall further behind as developing country revenues fall, international inflows decline and domestic needs rise as a consequence of the pandemic.

“What’s more, it is difficult to see how the ambitions set out in the integrated review can be financed in the current climate. It seems the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office will either need to spend beyond 0.5% GNI on aid to meet them, or risk falling short of what it wants to achieve. For the sake of the millions who’ve fallen back into extreme poverty as a result of Covid-19, let's hope it’s the former.”