Starmer urged to attend UN summit and back plans to tackle global debt crisis

The Guardian

5 hours ago

More than 80 charity leaders and campaigners have written to Keir Starmer urging him to attend a UN global development conference and back plans to reduce the debt payments made by poor countries.
World leaders including the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, are expected at the Financing for Development conference – known as FfD4 - in Seville later this month.
The campaigners claim that in negotiations between participating countries, the UK, together with others including the US, has blocked proposals for a new UN intergovernmental process to tackle the debt crisis in the global south.
Signatories to the letter include the heads of Christian Aid, Oxfam GB, Save the Children UK, ActionAid and Unicef UK.
'We are deeply concerned about the UK's position to systematically block any significant reform of the debt architecture within the FfD4 negotiations thus far. This approach risks putting this government on the wrong side of history and risks further damaging the UK's reputation as a development partner,' it says.
The development minister Jenny Chapman has insisted the UK will continue to take a lead on international development, despite slashing the aid budget to fund higher defence spending. Under its party manifesto, Labour pledged to 'repair relationships with developing countries and to restore the UK's role on the international development stage'.
Romilly Greenhill, the chief executive of the aid umbrella group Bond, which coordinated the letter, said: 'Following the shortsighted decision to cut the UK aid budget, this government has a responsibility to step up and take decisive action on debt.'
She added: 'The UK must stand in solidarity with countries hardest hit by the unjust debt crisis. Supporting their calls is vital – not just for the global majority, but for a fairer, more stable future for everyone.'
Patrick Watt, the chief executive of Christian Aid, said: 'The UK cannot build real partnerships with the global south while blocking the very reforms those countries are calling for. At FfD4, the government has a choice: stand in solidarity with countries facing debt and climate crises, or cling to outdated power structures that continue to extract more than they give.'
The letter calls on Starmer to 'ensure that the UK government demonstrates that it is ready to lead on debt on the global stage' by supporting the idea of a UN process. 'This is urgently needed for agreeing just, timely, and lasting debt relief and preventing future debt crises,' the letter adds.
With the UK a common jurisdiction for the contracts that govern sovereign debt, the government is also being urged to pass legislation to force private sector creditors to bear their fair share of any debt relief programmes.
The letter to Starmer says: 'Reforming UK debt legislation and supporting global financial reform costs the UK taxpayer nothing, all that is required is your willingness to lead.'
The World Bank estimates more than half of low-income countries are either already in debt distress or at high risk of it, and its chief economist has warned that outside Asia, the developing world risks becoming 'a development-free zone'.
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Countries struggling to meet their debt obligations can already apply for relief through a process known as the common framework, which is administered by the International Monetary Fund, but critics complain that it can take years.
A UK government spokesperson said: 'We remain deeply committed to supporting developing countries to tackle unsustainable debt and continue to work with them to address both the immediate challenges, and the underlying drivers.
'We look forward to working through a full spectrum of development finance issues, alongside our partners at the conference in Seville later this month.'
They spokesperson added that the UK would be represented by a minister at the meeting.
Global efforts to tackle poverty have taken a significant blow from the deep cuts in overseas aid budgets made by Donald Trump's administration, which has all but dismantled its aid agency, USAID.