Department for International Development merges with Foreign Office
The Department for International Development will be folded into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in a major Whitehall shake up.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the announcement during a statement in the House of Commons today, with the new department to be called the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab will now have the power to allocate aid where he chooses, with the merger expected to be completed in September.
International development secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan will stay in her role until September.
The UK’s commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on global aid will remain unchanged, after the merger is completed.
The budgets for the two departments will be combined, with no expected redundancies from the move.
“This is exactly the moment when we must mobilise everyone of our national assets including our aid budget and expertise to safeguard British interests and values overseas,” Johnson said.
The Prime Minister said the merger of the departments will allow a greater alignment between British foreign policy and aid spending.
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He gave examples of the UK sending more aid to some African countries than to Balkan and Eastern European nations as instances where changes in aid spending could take effect.
The Prime Minister said these kind of European countries have a greater significance on UK foreign policy and interests, and should be prioritised.
“One cardinal lesson of the pandemic is that distinctions between diplomacy and international development are artificial and outdated,” Johnson said.
“To protect ourselves against another calamity the UK will need to work together with our friends to strengthen international bodies like the World Health Organisation and help vulnerable countries to improve our health systems and achieve greater resilience.
“It makes no sense to ask if this is amounts to aid or foreign policy – they’re one in the same endeavour and designed to achieve the same goals which are right and serve our national interests.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called the change “the tactics of pure distraction”.
He said the announcement was intended to distract from figures released today showing more than 600,000 people have lost their jobs in the last month and the UK’s Europe-leading Covid-19 death toll.
He also denounced the change as “damaging a huge soft power asset” for the UK.
“I passionately believe in Britain, I’m proud of this country, I want to see it taking a leading global role again,” he said.
“We don’t achieve that by abolishing one of the best performing and most important departments.
“A department that has done so much to tackle poverty and injustice.”
International development committee chair, and Labour MP, Sarah Champion said “the PMs timing couldn’t be worse”.
She added: “The future for the UK’s world-leading Government humanitarian work is now in jeopardy.”