NEW UK COALITION MOBILISES FOR BRIDGETOWN INITIATIVE

Thursday 27th April 2023

For immediate release

A new cross-party coalition of parliamentarians, campaigners, civil society groups and charities has come together to mobilise support for the Bridgetown Initiative, designed to transform the scale of global development and green finance.  

A summit of fifty key players, from the UK and the United States, organised by CAFOD and the Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP, met at the House of Commons yesterday to galvanise support for the move and plan next steps.  

The summit, co-chaired by Byrne and Kate Hampton, Chief Executive of the Children's Investment Fund Foundation, was briefed by Development Secretary, Andrew Mitchell MP, World Bank Vice President Ed Mountfield, Chair of the International Development Select Committee, Sarah Champion MP, along with speakers from organisations including the Centre for Global Development, the Caribbean Policy Development Centre and the ONE Campaign.

Pioneered by Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, the Bridgetown Initiative is a major proposal - often compared to the Marshall Plan - to reform the world of development finance and the way rich countries help poor countries achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals and combat climate change. 

Next steps will include a cross-party sponsored debate in Parliament ahead of a major development summit hosted by President Macron, in June.

Liam Byrne MP, Chair of the global Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and IMF, said:

“The world now faces multiple crises of rising extreme poverty, hunger, disease, lost learning, unsustainable debt, conflict and climate change. Unless we transform the scale of green development finance from billions of dollars to trillions of dollars, we are simply going to miss the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate targets.

“This is a moment when UK leadership can make a real difference to the world’s most vulnerable people and I am truly heartened that such a powerful cross-party, cross-sector coalition is coming together to try and make sure we seize that opportunity.”

Neil Thorns, director of advocacy and communications at CAFOD, said:

“The world’s poorest communities are having to cope with the impacts of debt and climate crises alongside huge price rises. Governments need to deliver reforms of the financial system, which can release the money needed to meet the scale of these crises.

“This cannot be at the expense, or instead, of delivering on existing commitments made on climate finance or aid that have continually been missed.”

A summary of the Roundtable from co-chairs Kate Hampton and Liam Byrne MP can be found below.

Summary of Roundtable on the Bridgetown Initiative.pdf

Download PDF • 377KB

ENDS

Contact olivia.coyle@parliament.uk   Notes to editors   

1. The Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and IMF brings together 2,000 parliamentarians in 140 countries. Its briefing note on the Bridgetown Initiative is here: https://www.parlnet.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Memo-PN-Bridgetown-Agenda.pdf

2. CAFOD is the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. CAFOD works in over 40 countries around the world, including in many countries impacted by the climate crisis.

3. Parliamentarians and organisations represented at the UK Bridgetown Summit, included:

Preet Gill MP, Shadow Secretary for International Development Kerry McCarthy MP, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Net Zero Alex Sobel MP, Shadow Minister for the Environment

Centre for Global Development

Caribbean Policy Development Centre

ONE Campaign

Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero

Bond

Oxfam

Bretton Woods Project

Overseas Development Institute

Christian Aid

Debt Justice

Climate Action Network UK

IRC UK

Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network

Center for Strategic & International Studies