Labour to promise law to ensure international aid tackles climate crisis

Exclusive: Legislation to prioritise ‘greatest threat to humanity’ as Labour restores 0.7 per cent aid commitment

Preet Gill will promise to restore the independence of overseas development assistance within Whitehall (UK Parliament)

A Labour government would pass a law to require the UK’s overseas aid spending to prioritise action to tackle the climate crisis, The Independent can reveal.

In a speech to Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool later today, shadow international aid secretary Preet Gill will confirm the party’s commitment to restore the requirement for 0.7 per cent of national income to go to aid, after it was slashed to 0.5 per cent by Boris Johnson.

And she will say that a Labour government will introduce a new focus on using UK assistance to developing countries to address “this century’s biggest threat to humanity”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has put climate centre stage at this year’s gathering, taking place under the slogan “A Fairer, Greener Future”.

The focus on the environment reflects leadership concern that younger supporters may be drifting away to the Green Party, as well as a belief that record heatwaves this summer have pushed climate up the agenda for millions of mainstream voters.

In extracts from her speech seen by The Independent, Ms Gill promises to restore the independence of overseas development assistance within Whitehall, after Mr Johnson merged the Department for International Development into the Foreign Office.

She will say: “Boris Johnson’s ideological merger has failed.

“It now falls to Labour to undo that damage and earn back the trust of Britain’s partners. Keir was absolutely right when he called the closure of [the Department for International Development] ‘totally misguided’ and ‘wrongheaded’, and his commitment to international development speaks to who he is.

“So, just as 25 years ago, DFID was created to tackle the global challenges we faced, a Labour government will put in place a new model with the independence needed to meet the challenges of the 21st century: one that recognises the link between development and climate. Its mission will be to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals.

“We will reinstate Britain’s commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of income on aid.

“And we will deliver a distinct development programme that brings value for money and ends the government’s wasteful and transactional approach.

“The climate emergency is this century’s biggest threat to humanity. That is why I am also announcing today that Labour will legislate to make sure that, as a priority, Britain’s aid budget helps address climate change.”