Kate Osamor MP, Labour’s Shadow International Development Secretary, responding to Michael Fallon’s comments on the use of the aid budget for defence and security operations this morning, said:

“The militarisation of our aid budget will undermine Britain’s global reputation as a leader in development assistance. The foreign aid budget helps the most vulnerable people in the greatest need. We should not pillage this budget to fund military spending.

“This Government refuses to learn lessons from the past and bad precedents of using aid for military purposes. The Strategic Defence and Security Review allocated another £300million of the aid budget to the £1billion Conflict, Stability and Security Fund overseen by the National Security Council, involving, amongst others, the Foreign Office, Home Office and MoD.   

“This is a bad direction of travel as independent assessments rate DfID’s capacity for accountability, transparency and efficiency in the delivery of aid as far higher than those other ministries and departments.”

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