DfID is a world leader in tackling poverty. Our international standing is weakened without it

We risk development priorities becoming secondary to other foreign policy interests, at a time when they're needed most

The merger of the Department for International Development (DfID) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) runs the very real risk of putting an abrupt end to the UK's superpower" status in international development.

Gone will be DfID's clear articulation of purpose - the reduction and eventual elimination of global poverty - which has been a powerful motivating, unifying, and guiding force.