21 January 2010

Cuts to the FCO budget threaten conflict prevention initiatives

A Foreign Office Minister admitted on 20 January 2010 that the department is facing an estimated budget shortfall of £110 million this year. Baroness Kinnock revealed there will be cuts to many FCO programmes, including counter-terrorism activities in Pakistan, counter-narcotic initiatives in Afghanistan and capacity-building activities in Africa. The shortfall has been blamed on the weak pound.

The FCO’s resource budget is one of the smallest in Whitehall, receiving just £2 billion, of which £1.1 billon is ring-fenced for the British Council, the BBC World Service and subscriptions to international organisations. Moreover, the impact of the weak exchange rate has been felt far more acutely by the FCO than any other government department owing to the overseas nature of its operations and the need to work in different currencies.

Over the past 12 months, UNA-UK’s Chair, Lord Hannay of Chiswick, has repeatedly raised the issue of British UN contributions in the House of Lords, highlighting the potentially negative impact the government’s decision to pool the UK’s assessed (obligatory) contributions with our discretionary spending budget may have on its ability to contribute to conflict prevention initiatives.

To read Lord Hannay’s contributions on this issue in the House of Lords, click on titles below:

20 April 2009 – Conflict prevention operations

6 July 2009 – UN: Peacekeeping

6 July 2009 – International development

19 November 2009 – Queen’s speech

7 December 2009 – UN: UK peacekeeping contributions