By Caroline Pinder While the Tories were promoting their latest round of cuts in welfare benefits, and a week after Sunak shuffled the deckchairs around the Cabinet table to accommodate a former prime minister, an important and long-awaited white paper on the future of international development slipped under the radar. Three years ago, almost to the day, Sunak, then in the role of Chancellor, announced that the UK’s ODA would be cut from the statutory 0.7% of GNI to 0.5%. He claimed the cut was temporary and would be restored when “the fiscal situation allows.” Three years on, and the same ph ..read more

By Jessica Toale One of the great legacies of the last Labour Government was the progress achieved, alongside our allies, to prioritise and tackle some of the great global challenges we face. For example, 20-years ago, the United Kingdom – under a Labour Prime Minister – helped to found The Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria. Since then, The Global Fund has gone on to help save 59 million lives around the world. Why did a Labour Government do this, and so many other things to support the poorest and most vulnerable around the world? In part of course, it was because of a recognition of ..read more

By Larry Attree Last week's shadow cabinet reshuffle reaffirmed David Lammy as British Foreign Secretary in waiting. So how is Labour’s foreign and security policy offer shaping up? The challenge ahead Foreign and security policies rarely win power for an opposition, but they are vital for promoting public well-being, which – as COVID and the Ukraine war have underlined – is deeply connected to peace and cooperation overseas. As New Labour learned via Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, and then Afghanistan and Iraq, foreign policy rapidly becomes a central, defining issue for a party of ..read more

By Benjamin MacShane Back in November last year, I was running late for an interview with Colombian fintech, Dale!. Sprinting into the lift I punched the button, the doors closed, we sped upwards, and hurrying out, tripping slightly on my way I found myself, not with the Dale! reception doors as I expected, but instead almost nose-to-nose with Nicolàs Maduro. Stepping back and looking properly around I saw just to Sr. Maduro’s left an equally large likeness of Hugo Chavez. It isn’t often you trip through a rabbit-hole and find yourself in a Venezuelan wonderland but here was an office under c ..read more

We are pleased to announce our inaugural elections for the Labour Foreign Policy Executive Committee. Elections will take place between 14th June - 13th July and results will be announced at our AGM on Thursday 14th July. The LFPG Executive Committee is responsible for managing LFPG's operations, working with its Honorary Presidents and Advisory Board to set its strategic direction and working with members to produce a programme of events, publications and briefings aimed at contributing to Labour's foreign policy development. As of 14th May, nominations are open. If you would like to nominat ..read more

I am relative newcomer to the nature and climate cause, having worked for much of the last decade on international development issues. So I suspect that I arrived in Glasgow as a COP26 Civil Society Observer with more enthusiasm than those who had seen 25 previous such meetings come and go and the global output of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels only increase. I also have an affection for the baffling intricacies and quiet diplomacy behind most international agreements, finding the technical language strangely comforting. But this conference in particular highlighted the frustrations with ..read more

This year’s COP was hosted in the shadow of a shocking IPCC report that put us on a ‘Code red’ for humanity in the face of climate disaster. The report stated that climate change is widespread, rapid, and intensifying, and some trends are now irreversible. The talks finished last Saturday, a day later than intended, with 197 countries approving a ‘Glasgow Climate Pact’. There were reports of a last-minute deal, brokered between China and India, relating to the weakening of the ‘Fossil Fuels’ language we had seen in previous drafts, watering down the text from “phasing out” coal to merely “pha ..read more

By Mike Tapp The United Kingdom is one of the richest nations on the planet in terms of wealth, defence capabilities and culture. We should be leading from the front, setting a strong, compassionate example to the rest of the world with our defence and foreign policies. Continually evolving threats from Russia and China and the scourge of terrorism from extremist groups, that we must continue monitoring and countering as a top priority, mean it is vital that we present a constructive foreign policy that will see our positive influence extend and grow. Unfortunately, the Conservative governmen ..read more

by Jessica Toale The government’s long awaited Integrated Review was billed as ‘the most radical reassessment of our place in the world since the end of the Cold War.’ It aimed to cover all areas of international policy from defence and diplomacy to development and respond to the emerging threats and opportunities the UK faces on a global stage. But would it chart a brave new path and put some meat on the bones of a post-Brexit Global Britain or would it simply act to justify decisions already made? After multiple delays, we now have the Integrated Review and a clearer idea of the government ..read more

Ever since dockers from Sydney and Brisbane organized donations to sustain the 1889 Great London Dock Strike, cities have shaped global politics as cradles of progressivism and international solidarity. During the strike, 100,000 labourers shut down the Port of London for the entire summer. Australian dockers donated over £30,000 to a strike fund, which helped secure better pay and working conditions. As the Sydney Morning Herald reported on 18 September, 1889, “At the great demonstration in Hyde Park in celebration of the close of the strike, the Australian flag waved above the platform from ..read more