Ryan Henson: Aid is about so much more than just doing the right thing

When we think about our national security, we rightly consider the military, intelligence services and our police as being central to the dedicated work being undertaken around the clock that helps keep our families safe. But there is another crucial component to the UK’s foreign policy machinery that helps secure both our interests abroad, and our security at home — UK Overseas Development.

By investing in areas overseas that are challenged by poverty and poor infrastructure, we help reduce the likelihood of the consequences of those challenges, such as terrorism and humanitarian disasters, in the countries where aid is given, and help prevent them from reaching British shores.

At the same time, we increase opportunity and prosperity where it is needed most, empowering other countries to be independent and creating Britain’s trading partners of tomorrow. The British people understand this and recognise that aid and development is far more than the UK simply doing its bit for others; they recognise that it is integral to achieving our foreign policy objectives.

Research by the Coalition for Global Prosperity has found that 84 per cent of voters polled in marginal constituencies in the south of England believe the UK’s international development work sets us apart from other nations in a positive way, while 69 per cent consider aid and development to be intricately linked to our national security.

Even against the backdrop of our so-called culture wars, 88 per cent agreed that the UK’s international development work demonstrates the enduring strength of our values. While 78 per cent of those polled believe every penny of international development money should be thoroughly scrutinised to ensure maximum value for the British taxpayer, the widely held perception that the public believe aid is mostly wasted is not borne out by this research.

Indeed, five times more respondents agreed that the UK’s aid work has been impactful and transformative than those who disagreed. Importantly, twice as many respondents said that Britain had a moral obligation to continue to help the world’s poorest people, even when our own economy is going through a difficult time, compared to those who took the opposite view.

Protecting the British people and our democracy is the first duty of all governments. It is right then that the UK should be undertaking the biggest programme of investment in defence for 30 years.

Similarly, the government’s integrated defence review made clear that the UK should remain a world leader in international development and return to spending 0.7 per cent of gross national income on development when the fiscal situation allows. This is both the right thing to do, and the smart thing too. For aid is not only an expression of our values as a nation, but also a pillar of our foreign and defence strategies.

The world is changing. Over the coming years China will continue to weaponise aid through its Belt and Road Initiative and reap the rewards, leveraging indebted and resource-rich countries. Meanwhile, hostile states such as Russia will carry on flexing their muscles across its sphere of influence by disrupting and destabilising democracies, and obstructing progress towards peace in countries like Syria.

Article first published in the Times Red Box here.