‘Merger will hit the reputation of UK’

POLITICS: Merging the Department for International Development with the Foreign Office is an “unnecessary and expensive distraction” that will diminish the UK’s reputation, almost 200 charities believe.

The decision to scrap the department suggests the UK is turning its back on the world’s poorest people, think-tanks said.

MERGING THE Department for International Development with the Foreign Office is an “unnecessary and expensive distraction” that will diminish the UK’s reputation, almost 200 charities believe.

The Government’s decision to scrap the department through the merger suggests the UK is turning its back on the world’s poorest people, 188 humanitarian aid and development charities, NGOs and think-tanks said.

The groups, which include Save the Children UK and ActionAid UK, have written to Prime

Minister Boris Johnson asking him to urgently reconsider.

It comes as the head of Save the Children UK Kevin Watkins warned the world is on the brink of “potentially the worst reversal in progress for children that we’ve seen since 1945”.

The letter reads: “Abolishing one of the world’s most effective and respected Government departments at a time when the world is in need of global leadership undermines our response to Covid-19 and suggests the UK is turning its back on the world’s poorest people.

“It also risks us being less able to respond to the great challenges of our time, such as global health security and climate change.”

The charities say the sector was not consulted about the plans and “does not enhance our reputation in the world but diminishes it”.

The decision announced last week to close Dfid after 23 years and create the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has also come under criticism from opposition MPs and three former prime ministers, including David Cameron.

Mr Watkins described the merger as a “terrible decision” announced with “appalling timing”.

He fears some politicians will call for the aid programme to be scaled down to increase domestic spending as the UK deals with the economic fall-out from Covid-19.

Mr Watkins said while the public were not “not inward looking and disinterested in the plight of people in the poorest countries” there was a danger that politicians would say “let’s scale down the aid programme in order to scale up spending in priority areas in the UK”.

He added: “Every parent in the UK is desperately concerned about education in this country and especially the education gaps that are opening up because of lockdown.

“In the world’s poorest countries you’ve got over one billion children who are now out of school, who are at real risk ... in the same way we have to view education as a really critical part of life chances for young people in the UK, that’s equally true in the poorest countries.”

Stephanie Draper, chief executive of Bond, the UK international development network, said the sector fears aid will be directed away to be used for trade deals, which she said “would be a disaster for the UK’s credibility as a world leader in development and aid”.

A Government spokeswoman said the new department would continue to be guided by the legally-binding target of spending 0.7 per cent of gross national income on aid. She added: “As the PM has said, the merger of Dfid and FCO will ensure that all of our national assets – including our aid budget and expertise – are used to safeguard British interests and values overseas.

“This will strengthen our ability to lead the world’s efforts to recover from the coronavirus pandemic and allow us to seize the opportunities ahead as we prepare to take on the G7 presidency and host COP26 next year.”

It suggests the UK is turning its back on the world’s poorest people.

Letter from 188 humanitarian aid and development charities, NGOs and think-tanks.