Cruddas calls for action on money transfers

Labour deputy leadership candidate Jon Cruddas has called on the government to do more to help immigrants living in Britain to send money home.

The Dagenham MP, who has tabled parliamentary questions on the issue, highlighted the plight of immigrants from developing countries living in the UK.

"They often work long hours, are poorly paid and hold down several jobs at a time," he wrote on the new TMP website for political activists from ethnic minority communities.

Despite this, he noted that last year migrant workers sent £2.3bn in remittances to their families.

The money was spent mostly on "basic subsistence needs", he said, including clothing, education, food and health.

And, arguing this was helping ensure the government reaches its targets of reducing poverty and increasing access to education and health, he called on the government to "act before the next G8 summit".

While he recognised that progress had been made in increasing competition and transparency in the money transfer market, he stressed: "But we must go further.

"We must look at other ways of ensuring remitters can make the most of the money they send to relatives in the least developed countries in the world."

One way of doing this could be through the creation of a not-for-profit money transfer agency with minimal - or no - fees and a system of giving tax relief to registered remittance schemes, he recommended.

London Assembly member Murad Qureshi welcomed the article, saying Cruddas was "right to highlight that it's not your tax-dodging celeb or your grandstanding politician or even your 'do-gooding' NGO that contributes the most to development assistance to the developing world, but your migrant worker".

"Remittances is the Cinderella of development assistance to the developing world and not only should we drive the costs down, but also give it tax relief, to help the unofficial flows become official flows," he added.