As followers of UK political news will be aware, the party conference season has recently concluded.  As the major parties return to Westminster after their trips to Brighton (Lib Dems), Birmingham (Conservatives) and Manchester (Labour), this RESULTS blog post reviews remarks made by the UK’s key decision makers about microfinance and on increasing access to financial services.

The Liberal Democrats kicked off their conference in Brighton on the 22nd of September, reiterating their support for legislation that would require all future UK governments to spend 0.7% of Gross National Income on overseas development assistance.  As previously discussed on the RESULTS blog, enshrining this commitment into law would help the world’s poorest people and ensure a guaranteed funding flow to aid making the UK a world leader in this area.

Regarding microfinance specifically, 2010 Dods ‘Female MP of the Year‘ Annette Brooke MP spoke at a conference fringe session about her interest in microfinance and the potential for increased access to financial services to relieve poverty. As the founder of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Microfinance, for which RESULTS hosts a secretariat, Ms Brooke is familiar with the changes to people’s lives that microfinance can bring, though she also spoke of the need to better measure the impact of microfinance. Ms Brooke also discussed the importance of ensuring that microfinance continues to serve poor people’s needs rather than simply becoming a means of generating profits. In this regard she pointed to the 2010 crisis in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh as evidence of the terrible consequences that can result from a failure to supervise microcredit organisations in competitive markets. Continue reading →