Colman is one of the few British Members of Parliament with wide business experience, as a former board member of the Burton retail group (which included Arcadia and Debenhams), where he founded the Top Shop chain of fashion shops.
Business can help close the gap between rich and poor, he said. It cannot do it alone. The poorest countries need aid, and he welcomed the recent commitment by Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer to work towards an aid budget of 0.7% of the GNP.
But it is also vital that poor countries are enabled to trade equitably. ‘The businesses which will help close the gap will be those which are sustainable, equitable, which bring together labour and management, and which look to the long term,’ Colman said. Legislative action could help encourage these qualities.
Bribery is now an offence for British citizens anywhere in the world, thanks to his 2002 Private Member’s Bill on the subject. And the all-party committee on socially responsible investment which he chairs has changed the basis on which pension funds report – they must now account for the social, environmental and ethical basis of their investment.
Migration has a positive role to play, he said. ‘Immigrants benefit their countries of origin both through their remittances and, often, through returning to their country having gained new skills.’
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