UK’s Lammy to Raise Foreign Aid Spending to Counter Migration
(Bloomberg) -- UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy is planning to channel extra foreign aid spending toward measures to encourage people to remain in their own countries rather than migrate to the UK, according to people familiar with the matter.
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As much as £100 million ($130 million) will initially be plowed into measures to incentivize would-be migrants to Britain to either stay in their home nations or settle in countries along the migratory route to the UK, according to the people, who requested anonymity discussing unannounced plans. It wasn’t clear if that sum will come from the existing aid budget or represent additional expenditure. The foreign office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The money will be spent on boosting regional economic opportunities, skills and improving health care access in those countries, with the aim of reducing the pull factor of the UK jobs market and welfare system, the people said. An announcement could be made as soon as Thursday’s meeting of the European Political Community hosted by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The move is part of efforts to stem the flow of migrants to Britain — particularly those crossing illegally in small boats from France — that surged to record levels under the last Conservative government. Starmer scrapped the as yet unimplemented Conservative policy of deporting arrivals to Rwanda and had said instead he’ll focus on breaking up people smuggling gangs.
The aid policy is geared more toward tackling the reasons why migrants head for the UK in the first place, and it marks a notable shift in approach from Starmer’s Labour Party, which previously focused development funding on humanitarian causes and fighting poverty, reforms to financial systems in low and middle-income countries and policies improving the rights of women and girls.
While those objectives will remain, raising aid spending specifically with the purpose of reducing immigration shows Starmer is keen to sell development funding to domestic voters. Typically, some Tories and right-wingers like Reform UK leader Nigel Farage have criticized foreign aid spending.
Starmer, Lammy and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper also want to announce bilateral deals with nations such as Slovakia and Slovenia to combat people smuggling gangs, as well as increasing cooperation with European Union agencies like Europol and Frontex, people familiar with the matter said.
Starmer’s predecessor as premier, Rishi Sunak, reduced overseas aid spending to 0.5% of GDP from 0.7% when he was chancellor of the exchequer in 2020, blaming the state of the public finances after the Covid pandemic, a decision that was controversial at the time. Labour has committed to increasing it back to 0.7% when the public finances allow, but has not put a time-frame on when it plans to hit that target.
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