The international development review is led by Harriet Harman, the deputy Labour leader and the international development secretary, but also has a role for Cherie Blair.
The wife of the former prime minister will chair the women and development policy group, looking at the problems facing women and girls, including their access to education, healthcare and economic opportunities.
In addition, Harman will be examining the following six areas:
• Supporting the "sustainable empowerment" of women and girls.
• "Making growth work" for the poor and generating resources for development.
• Climate change, resource scarcity and food insecurity.
• Conflict, security and development.
• "Beyond governments", which will address the need to build greater support for international development.
• Inequality between countries and within them.
Tom Clark writes:
Labour set out an ambitious course for raising spending on aid, which the coalition continues to follow.
Like the government, Labour is painfully aware that there are many voters facing cuts on the home front who are resentful of the pursuit of grandiose plans abroad. The remit of this part of the review thus focuses on aid expenditure that can yield an identifiable dividend, for example in terms of economic growth, or on development issues that touch the heart, such as food scarcity or the position of women and girls.
Do you agree that Labour should continue to prioritise aid expenditure, and – if so – how do you think it ought to propose channelling the money, in order to win support in tough times?
