Clause 2 - Coherence of United Kingdom contribution to poverty reduction and sustainable development
International Development (Reporting and Transparency) Bill
9:15 am
Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill, Labour)
I am sure that the Committee understands with enormous clarity exactly what you have outlined, Mr. Hood. If we get anything wrong, I am sure that you will correct us.
I rise to speak to new clause 6, in which I have taken into account what my hon. Friend the Minister said on Second Reading. He was concerned about a possible overlap in the original draft of the Bill, and on reflection I decided to invite the Committee to replace clauses 2 and 4 with new clause 6, which is on policy coherence and millennium development goal 8.
The Committee is aware that on Second Reading I gave considerable prominence to policy coherence, which has been a Government objective for some time, and towards which we are making progress. Policy coherence is practised widely in Scandinavia and, as I saw for myself recently, it works in Sweden. It should of course be the subject of the annual report, and that is one of the purposes of the new clause.
It is important to include a clear and proactive endorsement of millennium development goal 8. The new clause would be a considerable improvement. How often have some of us attended marches and demonstrations on fair trade? We would therefore be right to make that an issue, which we would if the new clause were agreed to. It is important that the annual report should refer particularly to progress towards
“an open trading system that is rule-based and non-discriminatory and expands trading opportunities for low income countries”.
It is right, too, that we should ask for progress on
“an open financial system that is rule-based and non-discriminatory”.
I sense that the House is keen to monitor debt relief. The new clause would give this and future Governments the opportunity to do precisely that.
Such policies must be seen to be consistent with sustainable development, and I believe that the proposals will improve the focus of the annual report. New clause 6(1)(a) emphasises the importance of sustainable development even more strongly than the original Bill. I therefore commend new clause 6 to the Committee.