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House of Commons

Wednesday 9 March 2005

The House met at half-past Eleven o'clock

PRAYERS

[Mr. Speaker in the Chair]

Oral Answers to Questions

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The Secretary of State was asked—

Fair Trade

1. Anne Picking (East Lothian) (Lab): What action his Department is taking to support fair terms of trade for developing countries. [220737]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr. Gareth Thomas): The UK Government are committed to achieving fairer trade rules and removing barriers to trade. We are working for an outcome to the World Trade Organisation round that delivers on the ambition of the Doha development agenda, which for the first time puts developing country concerns at the heart of the WTO process.

Anne Picking: I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. It is relevant that on Make Poverty History day we have questions on international development. Will he join me in congratulating the people of East Lothian, who have worked extremely hard to raise money for the disaster of the tsunami and for the fair trade movement? In particular, the people of East Lothian have worked hard for the people of Africa, who suffer plight and poverty every day.

Mr. Thomas: I take this opportunity to join my hon. Friend in congratulating not only the people of East Lothian on their work in fundraising for the tsunami, but the people of Britain in general. All Members will recognise the fantastic response to the tsunami appeal.

I share my hon. Friend's view that the Make Poverty History campaign is generating considerable interest in the UK, across Europe and throughout the wider developed world. That interest will continue to be important in helping to secure a much fairer trading system as we approach the Hong Kong ministerial meeting, at which it is hoped we will get fairer trade rules agreed as a result of the WTO round.

Mr. John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): What progress are the Government making with agricultural reform? Does the Minister agree that to make progress
 
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in this important area on the day of the great campaign, we need fundamental reform of the common agricultural policy so that developing countries have a chance to sell us their products?

Mr. Thomas: I am sure that the right hon. Gentleman will be the first to congratulate my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on her successful negotiations on the CAP in June 2003, which for the first time began to break the link between production and subsidies. That has enabled the EU to offer to end export subsidies. We hope that the EU's commitment will help to achieve similar commitments and similar outcomes from other developed countries and, as a result, help to get an agreement at the Hong Kong ministerial meeting in December.

Ms Julia Drown (South Swindon) (Lab): There are serious concerns for developing countries that economic partnership agreements are being negotiated, forcing developing countries to liberalise their markets in a way that will put real pressure on the poorest people and the poorest farms in those countries. What is my hon. Friend doing to ensure that the voice of poor countries is heard properly and that poverty is given the central focus in terms of renegotiations on trade?

Mr. Thomas: Our ambition for economic partnership agreements is that they are tools to promote development. Commissioner Mandelson has reaffirmed before the Select Committee in this place that the EU has no commercial interest in economic partnership agreements. My hon. Friend will be aware that negotiations have just started on what EPAs will look like in practice. We are continuing to work with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and the European Commission to ensure that EPAs achieve their objective of being pro-development and pro-reform.

Mr. Julian Brazier (Canterbury) (Con): On Make Poverty History day, will the Minister say whether he is really happy with the generalised system of preferences plus document that we will be discussing in Committee tomorrow? Does he realise that this means that for many poor countries there will be access to EU markets only if they sign up to 27 treaties, many of them very expensive? Will he consider the concerns of Oxfam and other organisations that this could turn into protectionism through the back door against some of the world's poorest countries?

Mr. Thomas: I welcome the reform of the GSPs. A number of developing countries that were hard hit by the tsunami asked for further assistance in helping them with trade negotiations. The GSPs reform provides an opportunity to do so. We continue to talk to Oxfam and a range of other non-governmental organisations with an interest in fairer trading rules. We are continuing to work with them. We are continuing to work with ACP country Governments, as well as other least developing countries, to get a fairer set of trading rules, in particular in the run-up to the Hong Kong ministerial conference.

Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab): What assessment has my hon. Friend made of the all-party campaign to
 
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cut the subsidies to the richest 2 per cent. of farmers in the EU, which are currently £10 billion a year, to £5 billion, and to ring-fence that funding for the poorest countries in the world in southern Africa?

Mr. Thomas: I welcome the all-party campaign, as it directs attention to trade-distorting subsidies not only within the European Union but in many other countries. Many west and central African cotton producers are prevented from selling their products at competitive prices in the EU and US markets because of those huge subsidies. The fact that the EU has offered to end its export subsidies is an important signal of its intention to produce a fairer set of trading rules this year at the Hong Kong ministerial conference, and we need to urge other countries, such as our friends in America, to follow its example.

Africa (Multinational Aid)

2. Simon Hughes (Southwark, North and Bermondsey) (LD): If he will make a statement on the proposals for a multinational aid plan for Africa. [220738]

The Secretary of State for International Development (Hilary Benn): If Africa is to prosper it needs peace and stability, good governance, a doubling of aid through progress in reaching the United Nations 0.7 per cent. target and through the international finance facility, 100 per cent. multilateral debt relief and fairer trade rules. The Government are pressing for action on all those fronts, and the recommendations from the Commission for Africa will be published on Friday.

Simon Hughes: The Secretary of State will know that colleagues on both sides of the House and I fully support a Government initiative that some have called the new Marshall plan for Africa. Specifically, what role does he expect the United States of America to play, and what role does he expect the European Union and its member states to play?

Hilary Benn: The single most important step that the EU could take would be to agree a new aid target to which its member states are prepared to commit, so that they can help development in Africa and other developing countries around the world. That process has begun in discussions between Development Ministers in the General Affairs and External Relations Council, and Louis Michel, the new Commissioner, will make a proposal. If the United States of America, the other G8 countries and, indeed, all donor countries, accept the argument that a doubling of aid for Africa and other measures are required, they must consider what their contribution will be to creating a different prospect for the next generation in Africa.

Mr. Tom Clarke (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): I thank my right hon. Friend not just for his responses today but for his excellent work in seeking to make poverty history. On HIV/AIDS, will he continue to work with Nelson Mandela and others to ensure that that terrible scourge, which arises from poverty, does indeed become history?

Hilary Benn: I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for raising the matter of HIV and AIDS, not least because
 
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today we are co-hosting a conference in London with the French Government, Ambassador Randall Tobias, the US global AIDS co-ordinator, and Peter Piot of UNAIDS. It aims to ensure that the money that we have already raised in the fight against AIDS is used to the best effect so that we can bring care, support, treatment and anti-retroviral drugs to people who are suffering from this terrible epidemic. At the same time, by doubling aid to Africa and increasing aid to other developing countries we can raise the additional finance that we need to turn that expression of the world's support into help for people in the communities where they live. With treatment, more doctors, more nursing, more testing and more counselling we can help to keep more people alive, avoid millions of human tragedies and help to provide an opportunity for developing countries to grow and prosper. Without such an opportunity they will not relieve poverty.

Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD): The success of the Marshall plan for Africa will depend to a great extent on the additional funds from the international finance facility, yet there are great concerns about the way in which it will operate. Louis Michel, the EU Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, set out his concerns in a letter to me, in which he said he was anxious about its governance,

"the way its resources would be allocated and spent, and perhaps most importantly, the danger it might pose to aid flows after 2015—when repayments to the IFF would exceed its disbursements"

to developing countries. Does the Secretary of State wish to reconsider his response to me on 15 December 2004, when he said bluntly that he would not consider alternatives to the IFF? Will he agree to liaise with Treasury officials, who are looking at alternatives set out in, for instance, the Landau report?

Hilary Benn: No, I do not take back a single word, because as countries increase their aid programmes to reach the 0.7 per cent. UN target we face a challenge. We now have the timetable that the Chancellor announced last summer. We have 10 years to go until 2015, but we cannot wait until then because it would be too late to raise the necessary finance to deliver increased aid and join the battle against HIV and AIDS, get more children into school, and employ more doctors and nurses. The question for the House and every country is how we raise the additional finance for development today. The international finance facility now has support from France, Germany, Italy and, most significantly in one sense, Sweden, which announced just over a month ago its willingness to participate in the pilot project with GAVI—the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation—which we think could raise an additional $4 billion and save an extra 5 million lives over the next 10 years. If not, the international finance—

Mr. Speaker: Order. May I ask the Minister to keep the answers shorter?

Helen Jackson (Sheffield, Hillsborough) (Lab): I commend my right hon. Friend for the work that he and the Chancellor of the Exchequer have done to promote the international finance facility, and particularly for the fact that it is gaining ground in the European
 
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Community. Does he agree that it is the duty of every party in the United Kingdom to come in behind the international finance facility, so that every party and every country in the European Union and the G8 across the world will back it and we can make a real difference during this year?

Hilary Benn: In deference to your strictures, Mr. Speaker, I shall just say that I agree with every word of my hon. Friend.

Mr. Alan Duncan (Rutland and Melton) (Con): If we are to have a successful international aid plan, is it not better to have agreement not just between donor countries, but within those countries? We published our plans today, which include—the right hon. Gentleman will recognise the terms—increasing aid spending by £800 million, working towards the 0.7 per cent. target, focusing on the poorest, promoting good government, championing freer and fairer trade, and delivering faster and deeper debt relief. I believe in establishing a broad, honest cross-party consensus so that the United Kingdom can unite in action to address the challenges of global poverty. Will the Secretary of State confirm that he—[Interruption.]

Mr. Speaker: Order. Let the spokesman for the Opposition speak. It is bad manners to interrupt him—very bad manners.

Mr. Duncan: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Perhaps we can now hear whether the Secretary of State will confirm that he, too, will join in that cross-party consensus so that together we can all focus on the challenges of global poverty.

Hilary Benn: I am all in favour of focusing on the challenge of global poverty and I welcome support from every quarter. There are promises and commitments that people and parties make, and there are things that Governments actually do. If people look at the Government's record, they will see that we have not just promised to increase development assistance and to do all the things I outlined—we are actually doing them. That is the choice that people face.

Mr. Duncan: Perhaps the Secretary of State can steal a phrase from his own manifesto and look forward, not back, and desist from deceitful party fundraising, asking for party donations on the ground that we would cut spending, which is patently untrue. It is obtaining money by deception.

Bad government is the enemy of good aid. In addition to greater donor activity, there need to be African solutions to African problems. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that the Commission for Africa will deliver results only if it requires each and all of the participant African countries to subscribe to a collective commitment to govern well? Without good governance the Commission for Africa will not succeed. Does the Secretary of State agree?

Hilary Benn: I agree, of course, that if all the commitments that Africa has entered into and all the recommendations of the Commission for Africa are not fulfilled, we will not make progress. I am very much in favour of looking forward. One of the reasons why I do
 
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not want to look back is that I do not want to go back to the 18 years when the hon. Gentleman's party cut the aid budget.

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