‘Sweat the asset’: new development minister plots path to make UK aid count

Kirsty McNeill reaffirms Labour’s 0.7% of GDP pledge and promises value for money to allay voter concerns

The development minister, Kirsty McNeill, has declared herself “a huge believer in aid”, as she reaffirmed Labour’s manifesto pledge to return to a target of 0.7% of national income spending.

McNeill, a former adviser to Gordon Brown and senior executive at Save the Children, declined to give any timetable, repeating the formula that the government would work towards the target “when fiscal circumstances allow”.