In Conversation With Preet Kaur Gill MP, Shadow Secretary of State for DFID

On Tuesday 15th September, our COO, Libby Smith, interviewed Preet Kaur Gill MP, Shadow Secretary of State for DFID on how best to tackle the global challenges of our time, what the role of UK aid should be, Labour's vision for international development and how to create a safer, healthier and better off world.

On the DFID/ FCO Merger

Preet Gill said Labour were now campaigning around the need to retain ICAI and ensuring there was good ODA scrutiny.

Preet Gill said there had to be effective scrutiny over the new FCDO and said there was "no way one committee" could oversee scrutiny of development and foreign affairs. She said more detail was needed on how the Department would function in practice.

Gill said Labour would be focussed on holding the Government to account, and scrutinising spending and cuts.

“Now the Government has made this merger, of course we want to make it a success. What we first need to do is maintain scrutiny... We’ve got to have an effective scrutiny mechanism”.

Preet Kaur Gill MP, Shadow Secretary of State for DFID

On Pandemics & the Developing World

Gill said the pandemic meant that we would see a more unequal world and it was hitting the poorest and most vulnerable hardest. She said Labour had called for a ceasefire in Yemen, debt cancellation in sub-Saharan Africa, and the mass distribution of any potential vaccine. Gill said Shadow Chancellor, Anneliese Dodds, had been very supportive on their position of debt cancellation.

Preet Gill said the taxpayer was generous and said that the Government were already repurposing and cutting spending. She said there was no clarity on where the £2.9bn cuts already announced were coming from and said aid spending made Britain safer and created a better and safer world.

“Of course, we’ve got to respond to the pandemic globally. We’ve already seen 850,000 deaths globally. We know that this pandemic is going to plunge people into a global recession and it’s only going to get worse.”

- Preet Kaur Gill MP, Shadow Secretary of State for DFID

On Supporting the World’s Poorest

Gill stressed that it was vital for the UK to maintain its commitment to supporting the world’s poorest.

Gill said as shadow development minister she had visited development projects and had been encouraged by the work there, highlighting World Vision's work abroad in Sudan.

Gill told attendees about children she had met in refugee camps, stressing how harrowing their individual circumstances were. She said that aid could empower communities and give them dignity.