Clause 6 - Financial assistance
International Development Bill
3:00 pm
Dr Jenny Tonge (Richmond Park, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move amendment No. 21, in page 3, line 9, at end insert—
`(5) Financial assistance may not be provided now or in the future for the purposes of `tied aid'.'.
Welcome back, Mr. Butterfill. I want to ensure that clauses 1, 2 and 3 remain paramount. During discussion of the previous amendment, the Minister referred to untying aid, but there is no reference to that in the Bill. If I were someone other than myself, I would spend the next 45 minutes giving countless examples of tied aid and how it went wrong in the past, but I shall not do so. I shall say only that the globalisation White Paper contains a commitment to untying aid, as does the Conservative paper on international development, and my party has always been committed to that objective. The Bill should therefore include a clear, unambiguous statement to prevent any manipulation of aid in future.