The TaxPayers' Alliance has been running an important campaign - with new research, a viral video and the StopFundingArgentina.org e-petition - to stop British taxpayers' money being used to support loans to Argentina. We called on the Government to join the United States and other European countries in voting against new loans. In a response to a written question from Rebecca Harris MP, Secretary of State for International Development Justine Greening announced the brilliant news that our representatives will be doing just that:
Rebecca Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what her policy is on voting financial support to Argentina in (a) the Inter-American Development Bank, (b) the World Bank and (c) other multilateral development banks of which the UK is a shareholder. [142909]
Justine Greening: I have instructed the UK's representatives at the Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank to vote against all new proposals for financial support to the Government of the Republic of Argentina presented by these institutions, while reserving the right to support proposals that can demonstrate exceptional benefits to the poorest people of Argentina. These are the only Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), in which the UK is a shareholder, from which the Government of Argentina borrows.
The UK must ensure that the scarce resources of the MDBs are used as effectively as possible to foster development and economic growth. In light of recent actions by the Argentine Government I am no longer confident that further investments in Argentina would be consistent with these objectives. The actions include the failure to comply with the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes rulings; failure to agree to standard IMF Article IV surveillance since 2006; and the recent IMF censure, the first of its kind, as a result of continued failure to remedy breach of data obligations under the IMF Articles of Agreement, seriously undermining our ability to properly assess proposed future loans by the MDBs. This position will be kept under review, subject to the future actions of the Government of the Republic of Argentina and its compliance with its international obligations.
Thank you to the MPs who have helped secure this important change, including Henry Smith, Nigel Adams, Derek Twigg, Andrew Rosindell, Priti Patel, David Ruffley and John Spellar, and the other signatories of EDM 185. Thank you to journalists at the Sun, the Daily Mail, the People, the Daily Express and other newspapers that helped expose what was going on. But, most importantly, thank you to all of you who signed the e-petition at StopFundingArgentina.org. This is a great example of how energetic campaigns can make a real difference.