§ 3. Mr. Tony Clarke (Northampton, South)If he will make a statement on the international finance facility. [105152]
§ The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Gordon Brown)At the April meetings of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the G7, a joint proposal for a new international finance facility will be made by Britain as chair of the IMF committee and South Africa as chair of the development committee.
There has been growing support for the British initiative: it is being discussed today at the meeting between President Bush and our Prime Minister, and it will be discussed at the G7 meeting in Evian later in the spring.
I am allocating an extra £120 million from the reserve to the Department for International Development for humanitarian relief and reconstruction in Iraq, and I am today allocating a further £1.25 billion to increase the special reserves to£3 billion, to be drawn by the Ministry of Defence as necessary for action in Iraq.
I think the whole House will want to make clear our gratitude to our armed forces and our determination to ensure that they are fully supported, and will want to send condolences to the families of the 22 British service men who have lost their lives.
§ Mr. ClarkeI share my right hon. Friend's sentiments about our sympathy for those who have lost family members in the Gulf.
My right hon. Friend should be congratulated on exporting the values of financial stability and security that he applies to the United Kingdom economy around the globe. When he meets the G7 and G8 countries, will he use his best endeavours to ensure that those participating do not allow their participation to rely too much on trade deals? Developing countries should be allowed free trade, and opportunities to trade and choose their own export markets involving the countries of their choice.
§ Mr. BrownOne of the achievements since 1997 has been the untying of aid from trade, which means not making the aid that we give principally for education, health and anti-poverty programmes conditional on either trade or commercial agreements. I think my hon. Friend will agree, however, that if we are to achieve the millennium targets by 2015, it will be necessary to combine debt relief with the opening up of, in particular, the African countries that we have mentioned to trade and private investment, as well as the additional resources that will be made available by the international finance facility.
436 The agreeing of a new financing facility would be a major departure for the international community. It would be on a scale similar to that of the establishment of the World Bank in 1945, when it put extra funds into securing international development. That is why it is so important that we win international support for this facility.
§ Miss Anne McIntosh (Vale of York)I welcome the additional moneys that the Chancellor has allocated to the Iraq effort. I especially welcome the announcement that the girlfriends and partners of deceased soldiers—common-law wives, as we would call them in Scotland—will now enjoy the same benefits as the widows of those active service men. Will the Chancellor confirm that the provision will extend to any children of what in Scotland, but not in England, is recognised as a common-law marriage?
§ Mr. BrownI am grateful for the hon. Lady's support for my announcement about funding. The Ministry of Defence will make further announcements on the specific matter that she has raised.
§ Mr. John McFall (Dumbarton)The Chancellor is aware that in May I will accompany the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund to Zambia to see the work that it is doing in the western part of the country, the Shangombo region, where 100,000 people are starving. That country is spending 20 per cent. of its GDP on debt and only 2 per cent. on health and education. What message of hope can I take to the Government and those on the ground that the international financing facility and other issues are dealing with the needs of their country?
§ Mr. BrownI hope that the visit of my hon. Friend and the NGO concerned to Zambia will be a success. Zambia is one of those countries where one in every five children die before the age of five. Therefore, a huge amount of money has to be spent on health systems as well as education systems in that country. What he can say to the people whom he meets is that we are determined to move ahead with the debt relief that we promised and to build upon that money to enable the millennium development targets to be met. That means that every child in Zambia should be able to look forward to the possibility of schooling and that we should cut the infant mortality rate in Zambia, which is in one in five children, to a far lower level over the next 10 years, but it will require us as an international community to provide the funds.