Thread by @hhesterm

There are a number of factually wrong statements by @GeorgeFreemanMP to @katierazz. As this threatens to misrepresent the payoff the country is making, I fear they need to be corrected (thread)

https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1415068699619385348

Let me state where I am coming from: I can understand that in times of crisis like covid funding might need to be cut. But we need to be aware of payoffs and should not talk them down. So let me just give a few pointers.

1) The MP refers to a "big aid industry" that will be suffering, points out to valuable programs and then tries to draw a distinction that really important programs will not be cut. That is at best wrong - looking at "big aid industry", arguably offensively so.

The BBC has listed some programs that are being cut. Syria, Yemen, UNAIDS, the Rohingya... Are there inefficient programs? Yes, but those evaluations happen anyways. This is different and we should be honest about it. bbc.com/news/57362816

2) Then the MP is trying to compensate. "On diplomacy we're the third biggest network in the world." Let's look into that, shall we? The Lowy Institute keeps a global diplomacy index. Latest edition online 2019.

It ranks countries by number of total posts. The UK ranks 11: 1) China (276) 2) US (273) 3) France (267) 4) Japan (247) 5) Russia (242) 6) Turkey (235) 7) Germany (224) 8) Brazil (222) 9) Spain (215) 10 Italy (209) 11) UK (208).

I believe in the capacity of the @FCDOGovUK - and their strength. But if you want the FCDO to do more, you need to provide them with more funding.

Source: globaldiplomacyindex.lowyinstitute.org/country_rank.h…

3) Next up: "On tariffs, by reducing the EU's 40% tariffs on food from Africa that's a billion pound a year commitment in trade for the poorest nations". This - I am sorry to say - is so weird that I challenge @GeorgeFreemanMP to name a source or would say he's just made it up.

Let's start with "tariffs on food". There is no item "food" with a related tariff. The tariff schedule lists products using the so-called "harmonized system". Hundreds of items could be loosely referred to as "food".

But fortunately things are easier. WTO law allows members to grant better trade conditions to poorer countries. For least developed countries the EU allows imports on all items but arms duty and quota free under a program referred to as "everything but arms".

How many African countries can export duty and quota free to the EU under "everything but arms"? 34 (list here: trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/20… maybe a bit outdated, but at this level of information ... not really that relevant)

With 54 countries in Africa... that's the majority. And that's not all: A number of additional countries have FTAs with the EU, e.g. Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Ivory Cost, Ghana, South Africa.

In short: this just is a peculiar claim.

(I did not mention GSP and GSP+, no need to, really)

4) while I am tempted to look up the remaining "facts" - I have to do other things now. But the point is: I want to trust the words of an MP. The country can take the honest "we cannot afford it, and that's a gut punch". What harms the country is playing make belief.

Thanks to the gracious answer from @GeorgeFreemanMP there now is a second thread concerning the specific treasury document - the claim regarding the size of the diplomatic network is from there and the MP had the right to trust the document.