A Marshall Plan for foreign aid is the only sustainable answer to Europe’s immigration crisis

Author: Lord Michael Heseltine

In 1980, a year into my role as Environment Secretary, I looked out from the banks of the Mersey River and surveyed an expanse of sludge emptying into Liverpool Bay. The lifeblood of this city, full of untreated sewage and pollutants, was a fitting symbol of its wider decline, one that made it hard to imagine Liverpool’s bygone glory as one of the great buccaneer centres of the Industrial Revolution.

Economic downturn, social unrest and dilapidated infrastructure defined a city that many felt was unsalvageable – a challenge simply too vast to address.

Through convening and listening to those from across the political spectrum and with careful planning and management, we were eventually able to breathe new life into a city on the brink. At the core of our work was a guiding principle that regeneration was about more than just constructing buildings and roads: it was about creating wealth, fostering sustainable growth and empowering communities.

Now, in the face of an escalating immigration problem in Europe that shows no signs of easing, this same principle must guide a Marshall Plan for aid, one that addresses the root causes of the record net migration numbers reported by the Office for National Statistics in recent months.

As I recently outlined in a lecture hosted by the Coalition for Global Prosperity, the lessons I learned from Liverpool can pave the way for a moral, sustainable solution to the immigration crisis.

Before we are able to deliver a lasting solution to the large numbers of migrants arriving in Britain and mainland Europe, we must acknowledge two things.

Firstly, the myriad factors that motivate movement across borders, including those human stories of suffering, desperation and longing for opportunity behind the statistics. Around the world, the intersecting forces of weak governance, conflict, faltering economies and climate change leave an increasingly calamitous footprint, jeopardising livelihoods and driving people to undertake perilous journeys in the hope of reaching Europe’s shores.

In countries like Syria, Somalia and South Sudan, parents cannot hope for the quality education our children receive in the UK. Nor do they possess the certainty that there will be a stable job for them as they grow older, let alone the security that they themselves will make ends meet for their children. Life is defined by questions of survival that demand immediate answers.

Secondly, this is a widespread problem that extends beyond our borders. We must recognise that a problem of this scale will not be resolved alone; in Germany, asylum cases have increased by 70 per centthis year; in Italy, 10,000 migrants and refugees arrived on the island of Lampedusa in just one week in September 2023.

In both cases, and elsewhere in Europe, governments are grappling with the strain on housing and services amid a growing tide of public unease.

A challenge of this scale requires a comprehensive and collaborative approach with our European neighbours. Just as the allies grouped together to support Europe’s reconstruction in the aftermath of World War II, Britain must work with Europe to implement a Marshall Plan of unprecedented overseas development to address the global challenges of the 21st Century.

A programme of time-limited funding, designed to rapidly uplift areas of the world most at risk of conflict, terrorism and climate-related disasters (problems that so often overlap with, and exacerbate, poverty, poor literacy rates, and child marriage) will help prevent the migration flows of the past decade.

While a unified approach with our European neighbours is paramount if we are to achieve maximum impact with this Plan, we must also make sure that action is only taken following close engagement with local leaders and communities in affected regions, to ensure that our assistance responds directly to local needs and is respectful of cultural nuances.

Fostering a sense of ownership, and providing assurance that investments will remain in the long term, is essential if we are to engender hope for a better future in these countries – one that offers an alternative to migration as a means of seeking opportunity.

By creating the foundations for growth in these countries, we can address the socio-economic disparities that drive migration. In Liverpool, revitalising transportation networks and public spaces was instrumental in rekindling the city’s economic engine. Private sector partnerships played a crucial role in this, nurturing long-term wealth creation and bringing with them vital expertise and capital.

Public-private partnerships that match the scope of a Marshall Plan for aid would have a transformative effect, lifting millions out of poverty, generating new jobs, and harnessing the power of new technologies to strengthen public services.

The UK has the chance to show real leadership, and facilitate an exchange of expertise and resources with Europe of a scale not seen since the end of World War II. If we are to find a lasting solution to the migration crisis here, we must build sustainable development solutions elsewhere. Otherwise, we must resign ourselves to the simple laws of cause and effect.

This article was first published in Conservative Home.