Party Conferences 2009
With the UK General Elections to take place until next year spring, political parties are already in election campaign mode. The party conferences in autumn prepared party members for election manifesto discussions and positioned parties towards potential voters.
The DFID White Paper and the Conservative Green Paper on international development both published in July add to current policy development and discussions and are early signs where party thinking is at on international development.
Read more about the agenda of each political party on international development
Read a summary of development related discussions at each party conference
Bond members' engagement
Bond members organised a series of development events at each of the major political party conferences this autumn including joint fringe events. At these joint events, the International Development Manifesto of the sector was presented and the development spokesperson from each party was invited to outline their party's agenda for development alongside other interesting speakers.
The spokespeople of each political party will also be speaking at the Bond Annual Conference in a political ‘Question Time' style panel where Bond members are invited to ask them questions on their agenda for international development.
Joint NGO fringe events at Party Conferences
Liberal Democrats Party Conference
"Can we afford to care about internationalism?"
The joint NGO fringe event "Can we afford to care about internationalism?" took place on Day 3 of the Conference. The discussion was chaired by Sarah Montague of The Today Programme and included Lord Paddy Ashdown, former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Michael Moore MP, Liberal Democrats Shadow Secretary of State for International Development and Patrick Watt of World Vision as speakers. This very well attended event explored what role the UK should play internationally - and what role the Liberal Democrats should play in creating this kind of UK.
Read more about the international development discussions at the Liberal Democrats Party Conference
Labour Party Conference
"Can we afford to eliminate world poverty?"
The joint NGO fringe event at Labour took place on Day 2 of the Conference. Speakers at the event included Douglas Alexander MP, Secretary of State for International Development and Jasmine Whitbread, Chief Executive, Save the Children UK. The discussion was chaired by Michael White of the Guardian. Douglas Alexander in his remarks highlighted the international development achievements of 12 years Labour Government and emphasised the commitment to more and better aid.
Read more about the international development discussions at the Labour Party Conference
Conservative Party Conference
"In it together - can we afford to care about internationalism?"
The joint fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference took place on Day 1 of the Conference. Chaired by Jon Snow of Channel 4 News, this event included Richard Miller, Executive Director of ActionAid UK, and Andrew Mitchell MP, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, as key speakers. Andrew Mitchell emphasised that the commitment to international development and achieving 0.7% of GNI by 2013 is a cross party commitment and that the Conservative Party is firmly behind ring-fencing the aid budget.
Read more about the international development discussions at the Conservative Party Conference
