Boris Johnson announced the government department responsible for foreign aid is to be scrapped in a dramatic overhaul of the way Britain operates overseas.
The department for International Development (Dfid) will be merged into the Foreign Office to create the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in a bid to ‘maximise British influence’ overseas, he told MPs.
In a statement in the Commons this afternoon he said that Dfid, created by Labour in 1997, was a relic of a past age when China‘s economy was smaller than that of Italy and coronavirus had not ravaged the world.
The move, due to be completed by September, is a victory for Tory hardliners who argue that foreign spending needs to be focused more on UK national priorities and better targeted.
It puts considerably more power into the hands of Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.
Mr Johnson told MPs the move would ‘unite our aid with our diplomacy and bring them together in our international effort’, saying that for too long aid had been treated as ‘some giant cashpoint in the sky’.
‘Those well-intentioned decisions of 23 years ago were right for their time,’ he said.
‘They paved the way for Britain to meet the UN target of 0.7 per cent of national income on aid, a goal that was achieved by the coalition government in 2013 and has been maintained… ever since, including this year and it remains our commitment.’
The department for International Development (Dfid) will be merged into the Foreign Office to create the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in a bid to ‘maximise British influence’ overseas, he told MPs.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the announcement was ‘a distraction’ from how poorly the Government is handling the pandemic
He added: ‘Now, amid this pandemic this House may ask whether this is the right moment to reorganise Whitehall, but I must say that in reality this crisis has already imposed fundamental changes on the way that we operate.
‘If there is one further lesson it is that a whole-of-Government approach getting maximum value for the British taxpayer is just as important abroad as it is at home.
‘So, this is exactly the moment when we most mobilise every one of our national assets including our aid budget and expertise to safeguard British interests and values overseas.
‘The best possible instrument for doing that will be a new department charged with using all tools of British influence to seize the opportunities ahead.
But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the announcement was ‘a distraction’ from how poorly the Government is handling the pandemic.
Sir Keir said: ‘We should see this statement for what it is, the tactics of pure distraction.’
He added: ‘A few hours ago the ONS figures showed a fall of 600,000 people on the payroll. The economy contracted by 20 per cent in April and we could be on a verge of the return to mass unemployment, something we’ve not seen for a generation.
‘We’ve also one of the highest death rolls from Covid-19 in the world, at least 41,700 deaths and likely to be far greater than that.
‘And in the last hour the Government has u-turned on free school meals.’
He added: ‘This statement is intended to deflect attention from all of that and can I assure the Prime Minister it will not work.’
Rory Stewart, both a former international development secretary and foreign office minister, said he would have been ‘strongly’ arguing against the shake-up if he was still in office
Tory MP Bob Seely (left) welcomed the ‘brave and ambitious approach’. But former Labour aid secretary Douglas Alexander (left)tweeted it would be a ‘an act of national self-harm’
Tory MP Bob Seely, who co-wrote a report last year with the right-leaning foreign affairs think tank the Henry Jackson Society (HSJ) arguing for Dfid to be subsumed into the Foreign Office, welcomed the ‘brave and ambitious approach’.
He said: ‘Aid is vital and will continue to be so but it is also true that we need to integrate better our overseas policy.
‘This will see aid spent more not less effectively, by ensuring that aid and diplomacy work hand in hand for Britain and the world.
‘This will result I’m better aid spending, better value for the taxpayer, and more clout for global Britain.’
But Tom Tugendhat, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee said: ‘Questions will now be asked, and rightly so, about the new role the FCO will play as the strategic engine of foreign policy and how it aims to incorporate the wide range of technical expertise carried by DFID – an internationally well-respected department which has extensive knowledge and experience in relation to managing a budget of billions of pounds.
‘We must learn from similar mergers, for example in Australia and Canada, and ensure that our place on the world stage and international reputation are enhanced rather than put at risk.’
Former international development secretaries have criticised Government plans to scrap the Department for International Development (Dfid).
As the Prime Minister prepared to confirm the move to merge Dfid with the Foreign Office, Rory Stewart, both a former international development secretary and foreign office minister, said he would have been ‘strongly’ arguing against the shake-up if he was still in office.
He added: ‘I don’t think it is the smart option.
‘There are many other things we need to be concentrating on at the moment.
‘It will lead to a lot of disruption, a lot of uncertainty at a time when the Foreign Office has an enormous amount to be focused on.’
Douglas Alexander, a former Labour MP who was in charge of Dfid while Gordon Brown was in Downing Street between 2007-10, tweeted: ‘Abolishing Dfid would be an act of national self-harm that would hurt both the UK’s global standing and our efforts to assist the world’s poorest people amidst a global pandemic.’
Mr Johnson wrote the foreword for the HJS report, which was published before he became Prime Minister, saying at the time: ‘This is an original and important contribution to the debate, and will give food for thought – and encouragement – to all who believe in a global Britain.’