‘Britain’s G20 Presidency is Labour’s chance to lead a global reset’

It’s official: the UK will assume the Presidency of the G20 in 2027, presenting a historic opportunity for this government. With aid budgets shrinking and the multilateral system in crisis, Britain will take the helm at a pivotal moment for the future of global cooperation.

This year, aid cuts have swept the G20, with UK cuts alone projected to result in 2.9 million fewer children in school and twelve million people losing access to clean water. There is no doubt that the cuts are devastating. But they need not define this government’s legacy on international development. The hopeful truth is that, by reforming the global financial system that traps countries in poverty and leaves them reliant on aid in the first place, this government could more than counteract the damage – not by writing cheques, but by rewriting the rules.

The last Labour government made historic progress. Following a UK-led debt relief initiative in 2005, the number of children completing primary school increased by an average of 20% across thirty-six of the world’s poorest countries. Once again, Labour has the power to make history by reforming financial rules to save and improve millions of lives – all whilst benefiting, rather than costing, the British economy.

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Under today’s global rules, money is moving in the wrong direction. Instead of wealth flowing into the poorest and most climate-vulnerable countries, far more is flowing out. Aid cuts will make this worse, but the real drivers are baked into the system – tax evasion, illicit finance, resource extraction, trade imbalances, and a broken global debt system. In 2023, African nations spent over fifty times more on foreign debt payments than they received in UK aid. The least developed countries lose $46 billion each year to corporate tax abuse, while Africa is estimated to have bled a staggering $1.7 trillion through illicit financial flows since 1980 – figures that dwarf even pre-cut aid contributions.

Throughout 2025, these challenges have dominated every major international summit. World leaders, from the head of the IMF to the UN Secretary General and the Pope, have called for urgent reform. The UK government, too, has rightly identified system change as a key development priority. In his very first speech to the United Nations, Keir Starmer called for reform of global financial rules to deliver a fairer deal for developing countries.

Action to tackle the global debt crisis was a manifesto commitment, and in June 2026, the government is hosting world leaders in London to discuss tackling illicit financial flows. As planning begins for the UK’s G20 Presidency, the government has a strong foundation – but supportive rhetoric has not yet translated into concrete policy. As ODA cuts increase pressure on our global South partners, rhetoric will not be sufficient – bold policy action is needed.

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Britain has arguably more power than any other country to address the failings of the global financial system. It may not be a superpower in the way it once was, but – due to the central roles of the City of London and British Overseas Territories in the global economy – it remains a financial superpower. More than 90% of debts owed by low-income countries to financial firms like banks and hedge funds are governed by English law. A quarter of all global tax evasion is facilitated by Britain and its overseas territories, amounting to over $100 billion USD each year. By designing a G20 agenda of ambitious action in key areas like debt, tax, and illicit financial flows, Labour could make history.

More than a moral imperative, this is a strategic agenda that promises to bolster Britain’s economy and security. Fairer global financial rules would reduce migration pressures, prevent conflict, stabilise global markets, and prevent the climate damage that will push up food and energy prices for ordinary people in the UK. More functional debt and tax systems would unlock global growth, providing the UK with new trading partners, boosting our export revenues, and creating new markets for UK companies.

Labour members have not forgotten that it was the Labour Party that created the Department For International Development (DFID), enshrined 0.7% aid spending in law and drove $130 billion of debt cancellation in the 2000s. Since the aid cuts, new sign-ups to the Labour Campaign for International Development have spiked, as Party members make clear that they refuse to stand by and watch Labour abandon its proud tradition of internationalism.

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The aid cuts were a tragedy, but they have clarified the stakes. If we can no longer rely on aid to mask the inequities of the financial system, we must fix the system itself. As we approach the UK’s historic G20 Presidency, the question is not whether reform is possible, but whether we possess the moral imagination and political courage to pursue it.

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