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Priti Patel outside a cabinet meeting in June.
Priti Patel was appointed international development secretary in July. Photograph: Dinendra Haria/Rex/Shutterstock
Priti Patel was appointed international development secretary in July. Photograph: Dinendra Haria/Rex/Shutterstock

UK NGOs raise concerns about Priti Patel's new approach to foreign aid

This article is more than 7 years old

Aid agencies respond to the international development secretary’s plan for aid based on ‘core Conservative principles’

Concerns that British aid funding will be diverted away from supporting the world’s poorest people towards facilitating trade have been raised by NGOs.

In an article on Wednesday for the Daily Mail, the new international development secretary Priti Patel announced that she would “challenge and change the global aid system” and that her approach “will be built on some core Conservative principles: that the way to end poverty is wealth creation, not aid dependency; that wealth is ultimately created by people, not by the state; that poor countries need more investment and trade, not less”.

But NGOs have pointed out in response that the priority for aid in the UK has always been the alleviation of poverty and the support of the poorest groups in society, and that the UK’s aid funding was already carefully targeted towards that end.

Patel’s article was “challenging reading” said Aaron Oxley, executive director of campaign group Results UK. “Virtually all UK aid money is already spent incredibly well on high-impact activities that are focused on eliminating poverty and have a proven track record of delivering results,” he said.

“The first priority of UK aid must be to end poverty and leave no one behind, not to oil the wheels of British business,” said Loretta Minghella, chief executive of Christian Aid. “Increased trade supported by the aid budget ought to benefit the poorest most, not those who already prosper.”

Minghella added that the Conservative government must start by cleaning up the UK’s own backyard when it comes to corruption. “Tax dodging and embezzlement drain poorer countries of much-needed revenues for essential services like health and education and this is facilitated by global networks of corruption which even touch the UK’s own shores,” she said. “Among the worst offenders are the UK’s overseas territories like the British Virgin Islands, which featured so heavily in the Panama Papers.” Patel’s commitment to transparency needs to be taken to the foreign office, said Minghella, which hasn’t been awarded top ratings yet.

When economies boom, people are left behind, said Tanya Barron, chief executive of Plan International, and “all too often, this is girls and young women”. She added: “In recent years DfID [the UK’s Department for International Development] has been a global leader in ensuring that girls and young women are protected from violence and exploitation so that they can fulfil their potential. This sort of work too is critical to achieve our aim of a just, stable and prosperous world.”

Oxley added that proof of Patel’s commitment to development will become apparent later this week as a conference to announce the replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria is happening in Montreal. “The UK has historically been a big donor to the Global Fund precisely because it gets results and is constantly working to improve its impact,” he said. “We look forward to seeing a strong pledge from the UK that will directly contribute to saving millions of lives and help end these epidemics for good.” France has pledged $1.08bn (£0.82bn), but the UK is yet to donate.

“UK aid is respected throughout the world as being among the most effective and most scrutinised,” said Ben Jackson, chief executive of Bond, which represents NGOs in the UK. “We would welcome the opportunity to discuss with the secretary of state the ways in which aid can be delivered in the most effective way possible, to help the poorest people.”

Alex Scrivener, policy officer at Global Justice Now, hopes that Patel reconsiders her views. “Aid is not perfect,” said Scrivener. “But that is no excuse for Priti Patel to divert money meant to help the poor into supporting multinationals in the name of free trade and the UK national interest. Nor should she be using it to pander to the tabloids’ anti-immigrant agenda.”

ActionAid’s director of policy, Alison Holder, said that the best way to achieve development is “through supporting long-term change through education, fair reform of global tax and trade rules, resilience building, and by supporting people to take control of their own lives that can help communities to build their own futures, free from aid”.

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  • This article was amended on 14 September 2016 to remove a quote from WaterAid which was taken out of context.

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