---

Mr. William Cash (Stone): On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Is it in order for the Minister to repeat almost word for word a speech that she made on 26 June in a different environment?

Madam Speaker: I am not responsible for Ministers or Back Benchers' comments in the House. They are all responsible for their own speeches. I have not heard the Minister's speech before.

Clare Short: I am grateful, Madam Speaker. I included some of this text in my speech at the Commonwealth Institute recently. The speech is of profound importance, and has never been put before the House. If Conservative Members would take notice of it, we might have a wiser debate about some of the most important issues in politics.

Mr. Denis MacShane (Rotherham): The hon. Member for Stone (Mr. Cash) has made the same speech for five years.

Clare Short: Indeed. The hon. Member for Stone (Mr. Cash) should not complain about anyone saying the same thing over and again.

Progress during the past 50 years in eliminating poverty--this is important--has been greater than in the previous 500 years of human existence. We have not done enough, but much has been achieved, and that achievement teaches us how to do the rest. That is the basis on which I believe that abject poverty could be eliminated from the world in our lifetime, or at least within the lifetime of our children. Clearly, the world could not commit itself to a more noble task as we approach a new millennium, but the challenges remain daunting. Advances have not been uniform, and poverty remains pervasive.

Dr. Liam Fox (Woodspring): The right hon. Lady has not yet mentioned trade in the elimination of poverty.

1 Jul 1997 : Column 119

As Lome is being reviewed, and as the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries arrangement, whereby large nations are put in the same bracket as small single-commodity nations, contains complications, does she have a view on whether that arrangement needs to be reviewed?

Clare Short: I do have a view. As the hon. Gentleman will know, Britain will hold the European Union presidency when the mandate for the Lome renegotiation is put in place, so it is key that we get our thinking right. Some differentiation between the needs of countries in different stages of development should form part of the renegotiation. I have made a speech about that, and I would be happy to send it to the hon. Gentleman. It is an important matter, and it is vital that we get it right. The development assistance committee target of halving world poverty by 2015 should be incorporated in the Lome renegotiation. The world should seriously sign up, through all its institutions, to meeting that target.

The two reports are the basis on which abject poverty could be eliminated from the world in our lifetime, but the challenges remain daunting. Advances have not been uniform, and poverty remains pervasive. We have gone forward and backwards in the past 50 years. That means that we can learn what succeeds and what conditions breed failure, but it remains true that more than a quarter of the developing world's people still live in extreme poverty. Some groups suffer more than others, particularly children, women and elderly people. New global pressures are creating or threatening further increases in poverty, just at the time when the possibilities for advance should be greater than ever.

The conclusion of the United Nations Development Programme report is that the elimination of poverty is affordable and achievable. What is lacking is the political will to achieve that end.

Mr. Tam Dalyell (Linlithgow): Before my right hon. Friend leaves the UN, could some reflection be given to the UN's policy of imposing sanctions on countries such as Iraq? Whatever the difficulties with regard to the leadership, the effect is to throw the people of the river valleys--in this case, the Tigris and the Euphrates--into some of the most abject poverty that the present world knows, and the UN has a responsibility in that matter.

Clare Short: My hon. Friend knows that I share his concern about the suffering of the people of Iraq. We have to refine our capacity to take action against repressive Governments such as the evil Government in Iraq, without hurting the people living under such Governments. We could do more to refine the sanctions instrument, but that is a big project that we need to work on together.

I believe strongly that if people in this country and elsewhere believe that the elimination of poverty is achievable and not a hopeless enterprise they will demand action and help to generate that political will.

We hear much about compassion fatigue. We see constant pictures of disaster and famine. We get reports of human rights abuse, civil war, refugees and suffering. People worry increasingly about the state of the world, and about what will be left for their grandchildren. I do

1 Jul 1997 : Column 120

not believe that there is any less compassion in the world today than there has ever been, but I do think that there is more despondency, and that this paralyses the will to act.

It is, of course, right that the media should bring the suffering of fellow human beings to our attention as a spur to action, but it is wrong that the reporting of development issues should create the impression that no progress is being made, and that none is possible. People need hope to be able to demand action.

So how is poverty to be eliminated? It is obvious that, because most of the poor live in the poorest countries of the world, economic growth is necessary if people are to escape from poverty. Growth rates of at least 6 to 7 per cent. are required if countries are to become better off in a sustainable way, particularly as high population growth may mean that the real increase is only a third or even a half of the growth figure.

Anything less than 2.5 per cent. effectively means a growth in poverty, but, while economic growth is a necessary condition, it is not a sufficient condition to escape from poverty. Indeed, some economic growth can increase inequality and poverty, as we have seen so clearly over the past 20 years.

Mr. Richard Ottaway (Croydon, South): The Secretary of State quite rightly touches on population growth, but gives the impression that it is a symptom of poverty. Does she not accept that many people think that it is the root cause of poverty? Will she continue with the emphasis that the previous Government placed on population growth? Indeed, will she develop it even further?

Clare Short: I intend to do much more in this area than the previous Government. Population growth is an enormous, serious challenge to the people of the world. The current world population is 5.8 billion; it is due to rise to 7 billion by the turn of the century. Some projections say that, in the next century, it will increase to 10 billion and stabilise, or to 17 billion and be out of control. The population growth is in the poorest parts of the world and among the poorest populations, 50 per cent. of whom do not have access to contraception, and many of whom do not know whether their children will live.

We know that educating girls and giving women access to health care and to some sustainable livelihood leads to their taking control of the size of their families. That is how we bring about a stabilisation in population. The only way to achieve that is to have a just world in which all the people of the world have access to basic education, basic health care and clean water, so that they can take control of their own lives and know that their children will live. I agree with the hon. Gentleman that this issue is of profound importance, and that, if we do not face it, the whole world will be in very severe difficulty.

Mr. Bernie Grant (Tottenham): There is much talk about the size of the population in Africa, but does my right hon. Friend agree that Africa is, in fact, depopulated as a result of the removal of more than 100 million people during the period of enslavement and colonisation, and that the growth that has taken place in other continents has not been matched by the growth in Africa? So when people say that Africa must control its population growth, that is not correct.

Clare Short: I agree with my hon. Friend that slavery, in which African people sold other African people to

1 Jul 1997 : Column 121

wretched slave owners, many of whom originated in our country, was a terrible tragedy for all the people involved and for Africa as well. I cannot say that I know what the population of Africa would be if there had not been slavery. I just do not have that information, so I cannot make a judgment about whether Africa is over or under-populated.

I know for certain, however, that the people of Africa--the women of Africa, the girls of Africa--are entitled to be educated, to have basic health care, reproductive health care, and to make their own decisions about the size of their families. The people of Africa will decide for themselves what the population of Africa should be.

Before the interventions, I was talking about the scale of economic growth required in poorer countries if we are to make progress in eliminating poverty. The same arguments apply not only to the developing but to the developed world. The United Nations human development report is a powerful reminder that more equitable distribution of the benefits of growth must be a top priority also for the United Kingdom. On the UNDP's figures, Britain is one of the most unequal countries in the world. Therefore, our development effort is not about us preaching to less developed countries: the lessons must be applied at home as well as abroad.

Good economic management means not only growth in the economy--as measured by some theoretical improvement in overall gross national product per capita--but the fact that many of the benefits of that growth reach members of the population who need them. Governments, and all public authorities, have obligations to all their people, and especially to poor people. Budgetary systems should ensure that the interests of the poor are protected and enhanced.

The state has a duty to make arrangements that provide all citizens with education, basic health care and clean water. The state must also create economic arrangements that give all citizens access to markets, in which they can sell their produce and their labour, and to security, appropriate technology and land, so that they can create sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their families.

---