The day before yesterday the Prime Minister announced that the Foreign Office and Department for International Development are set to merge.
The Liberal Democrats have always made absolutely clear our unequivocal support for Britain’s role as a world leader in providing aid to those most in need. UK aid prevents suffering.
By working internationally we can achieve so much more than we can alone.
It was the Liberal Democrats who enshrined the 0.7% aid commitment into UK law. This is a commitment the UK should be proud to uphold.
Yet Boris Johnson’s decision threatens to undermine that commitment, and with it our global influence.
By working internationally we can achieve so much more than we can alone. – @Wera_Hobhouse – Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) June 16, 2020
The government must rethink scrapping the Department for International Development. It is no surprise three former Prime Ministers have condemned this move.
Boris Johnson has wanted to use the 0.7% for international aid for his own political projects ever since entering government.
This decision shows the extent of the Prime Minister’s determination to see the UK turn its back on the world. The Prime Minister should think again.
Liberal Democrat Herts County Councillor for Tring & the Villages, commented,
“The Conservatives are proposing to turn foreign aid away from being from a humanitarian endeavour whereby we help low income countries to develop and towards a self-interested system of bribery to win political favours and contracts for British companies.”