THE Bishop of Worcester, Dr John Inge, has expressed dismay that the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has not used “fiscal headroom” to revive the international-aid budget to 0.7 per cent of gross national income (GNI).
Dr Inge spoke in a House of Lords debate on Monday on the Spring Budget (News, 8 March; Comment, 15 March).
He said that there have been “many good things within the Budget”, equivalent to “the continuation of the Household Support Fund, the reform of non-dom status, the rise in public-services spending by one per cent above inflation, and the welcome reduction in National Insurance”.
The Bishop was “very disenchanted by one lacuna”, nonetheless: “that the help budget was not increased”.
He continued: “The Government have consistently maintained that they might restore the UK’s aid budget to 0.7 per cent of GNI ‘when fiscal circumstances allow’. I feel I speak for very many in expressing dismay that the Chancellor didn’t use any of his fiscal headroom to achieve this, thus restoring a manifesto commitment.
“The dismay is felt due to impact of the cuts, which have been set out by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact. It noted that cuts have led to less give attention to poverty reduction in trade programmes, and that programmes focused on gender equality in places where this is far needed have been heavily impacted.”
The cuts to the help budget had fallen most heavily on least-developed countries, Dr Inge said: the quantity of bilateral overseas aid going to such countries had dropped by £961 million in 2021: a 40-per-cent cut.
“That is way greater than those to lower- and middle-income countries, which received a cut of £339 million, or 29 per cent, and upper-middle-income countries, which saw reductions of £117 million, or 17 per cent.
“Of the ten countries that received the most important cuts, six were lowest-income countries. This is unquestionably a heart-breaking option to prioritise overseas-aid spending. As if the cuts weren’t bad enough, we now know that they were focused on countries least in a position to reply to or mitigate a discount in funding.”
Continuing to interrupt the 0.7-per-cent commitment was a disservice each to the poorest people on the planet and to the UK’s international status, he concluded.
Responding for the Government, Baroness Vere, Parliamentary Secretary on the Treasury, didn’t reply to the points made by Dr Inge, but said: “I’ll write to the Right Reverend Prelate on official development assistance.”
