UK Development Minister Kirsty McNeill has reconfirmed Labour's commitment to restoring aid spending to 0.7% of national income, a target first set by the Blair government and widely supported across political lines before being reduced during the pandemic. McNeill, a former adviser to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and a senior executive at Save the Children, emphasized her strong belief in the value of aid. While she did not set a specific timeline for restoring the target, she said the government would aim to reach it "when fiscal circumstances allow." She also promised to create more flexible and effective partnerships to tackle global development challenges. McNeill will outline her priorities in a speech to charities and campaigners at the New Economics Foundation, a thinktank focused on economic and social issues. She announced that up to £15 million will be made available through the thinktank's humanitarian crisis fund to support preventive action in countries most vulnerable to the effects of El Niño, a climate phenomenon expected to be the most severe in 1,000 years. The UN has warned that El Niño could lead to extreme weather events, including wildfires and flooding, which could worsen existing crises in many regions. The 0.7% aid target was abandoned by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during the height of the pandemic, reducing UK aid spending to 0.3% of national income. Charities have raised concerns that this reduction has significantly cut support to some of the world’s poorest countries. McNeill, who took over the role after her predecessor left due to concerns over the scale of the cuts, said Labour should not shy away from making a clear case for aid. She argued that voters are more concerned about the effectiveness and value for money of aid spending, and she pledged to make the most of current limited resources. McNeill described her role as leveraging the expertise and influence of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to address five key areas: health, climate, food, human, and economic security. She emphasized that this approach focuses on global cooperation and how security can be achieved through solidarity. As a veteran of the Make Poverty History campaign in the mid-2000s, she contrasted her strategy with that of the Blair government, which used the UK's G8 presidency in 2005 to secure debt relief for developing countries. McNeill, representing the Midlothian constituency since 2024, is supported by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who has signaled a desire to elevate development as a central focus of the FCDO’s work, including securing a seat on the World Bank board.