Orders of the Day — Ministry of Overseas Development (Dissolution)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 30 October 1979.

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Photo of Bernard Braine Bernard Braine , Essex South East 12:00, 30 October 1979

Is not my hon. Friend aware that for decades American aid policy has always been subordinated to the State Department, and that as a consequence other aid donors have seen grave disadvantages follow? The United States has now reversed that policy. Can my hon. Friend give me one good reason—I have not heard one this afternoon—why we should now subordinate a Department that has served this country well, and earned us a high reputation abroad, to the Foreign Office? That is the very reverse of what has been a successful policy under successive Governments for many years. Where is the justification?