Labour
As the governing party for the last 12 years, the Labour Party has reshaped the UK's approach to development, particularly by establishing the Department for International Development (DFID) as an independent department.
There has been a shift away from Washington Consensus thinking which advocates globalisation and economic growth as sure-fire routes out of poverty, towards a more nuanced stance acknowledging that broader protections are required to ensure that economic growth is pro-poor, and that governance and political processes play an integral role in effective development.
Labour's current position as reflected in DFID's recent White Paper, Building Our Common Future, in particular emphasises:
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Coherence and effectiveness: Improving aid effectiveness through a focus on coordinated delivery, both between UK departments (in particular between DFID, the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence) and utilising the UK's influential role to improve coordination within and between multilateral organisations (e.g. the EU, UN, IMF and World Bank)
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State-building: The importance of developing the tax base of countries, providing budget support and also developing the general capacity of key groups including civil society organisations as well as national governments
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Climate change: A broader integration of climate change considerations into development policies and programmes
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Social protection: A renewed focus on ensuring that development policies and programmes put appropriate social protections in place
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Conflict and fragile states: Conflict and fragile states as a key arena for development, dedicating half of all new bilateral aid spending to such states
In response to criticisms that Labour have not paid due regard to the outputs of development spending and have not put enough attention on corruption, Labour also aim to do more to ensure aid effectiveness by focusing on results and increasing spending on accountability and transparency measures.
