Cutting aid budget would hit UK influence, two former PMs say

Visibilia Editore SpA

21/11/2020 09:37

LONDON, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Two former British prime
ministers have urged Boris Johnson to retain the government's
spending on foreign aid, warning he will damage the UK's
influence on the global stage if he cuts it in a finance review
next week. 
    Tony Blair and David Cameron released a statement to the
Telegraph newspaper urging Johnson to maintain Britain's pledge
to spend 0.7% of GDP on aid and development following reports it
could be cut to conserve cash during the pandemic. 
    British finance minister Rishi Sunak will deliver a spending
review on Wednesday, setting out government spending over the
next year after COVID-19 blew a 200 billion pound ($266
billion)hole in the country's finances. 
    "Abandoning the 0.7 target for aid would be a moral,
strategic and political mistake," Cameron, prime minister from
2010 to 2016 and a member of Johnson's Conservative Party, said.
    The two former leaders argued that any move to cut spending
on aid would undermine Britain's position when it hosts the G7
summit in 2021. The decision comes as the country embarks on a
new future outside the European Union. 
    Blair, a Labour prime minister from 1997 to 2007 who
introduced the 0.7% target, said the spending had tackled
disease, boosted education and helped to increase living
standards across large swathes of Africa.
    "This has been a great British soft power achievement," he
said. "It isn't about charity. It's enlightened self-interest.
    "Neither the challenge of climate or coronavirus can be met
without Africa. Nor can those of extremism and uncontrolled
immigration. To change it is a profound strategic mistake, and I
sincerely hope the government will not do it."
    Johnson was asked on Wednesday during his weekly question
session in parliament to rule out a cut to the aid budget, and
declined to do so. 
    ($1 = 0.7529 pounds)

 (Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Mark Potter)
 ((kate.holton@thomsonreuters.com; 0044 207 542 8560; Reuters
Messaging: kate.holton.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))