International Development (Reporting and Transparency) Bill

I am grateful for the opportunity to put on record my support for this valuable initiative by my right hon. Friend the Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill (Mr. Clarke). I welcome the cross-party support for the Bill. It shows how far we have come that all political parties are setting targets for when we are to meet the target, set so many years ago, for the amount of aid that we should provide to developing countries, which, as we are all so well aware, are suffering from such extreme poverty and inequality. When I first came to this place in May after the general election, I experienced a short two months when the issues in the Bill were very much at the top of the political agenda. That, of course, was because of the Labour Government’s inspired decision to put debt, aid and, in particular, Africa at the top of the agenda for the G8 summit in Glenrothes. That period showed how important it is that politicians put the issue at the top of the agenda. We are all aware of powerful political lobbies in all our constituencies who put articulate cases on why the issue has to be tackled. It is, however, only when politicians and our political leaders recognise the importance of the issues that we are able to galvanise the kind of demonstration that we saw in Edinburgh last July when 250,000 people marched through the city in what was probably the biggest political demonstration ever seen in Scotland. Like many in the House, I was one of the many on that march. It was a moving occasion, but one of the more significant issues arising for me was the number of young people there. They were engaging perhaps for the first time on a political issue. They went on that demonstration in the genuine belief that the Government would do something to change things and take the issues forward. I believe that we did achieve many things last year in Glenrothes, but of course we have a long, long way to go. The Bill provides an important way to try structurally to make sure that the issues become far more central to debates in the House. For that reason, it is an important initiative. The hon. Member for Buckingham (John Bercow) talked about the strong moral case for making sure that we tackle the issues. Of course, it is an outrage that 50,000 people die every day as a result of poverty. That is one third of the deaths in the world every day. There is a huge moral case for tackling the issues. More than that, though, there is a strong political case for taking the issues on, full frontal. It is in none of our interests to have such inequality and extreme poverty in the world. If we allow it to continue, and if in an age of high-level communication and television we do not make sure that the western world takes the issues on and finds the political solutions, the political problems that they create will come back to haunt us. The types of inequality and the extremes of poverty even within countries in the developing world—never mind the differences between the UK and many of the poorer countries—create a political inequality and injustice that will lead to political problems for us all. My right hon. Friend the Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill is making a proposal that would enable us to make sure that our moral outrage at the injustice that we see and the political and economic injustice are addressed.