DOWNING Street have chided Department for International Development (Dfid) secretary Penny Mordaunt after she called for Britain to withdraw from UN cultural and education body, Unesco.
The Brexiteer wanted to end the UK’s annual £11.1 million funding to the body responsible for protecting cultural heritage, due to concerns over its performance.
The suggestion reportedly infuriated a number of cabinet colleagues as well as opposition politicians.
Labour’s Emily Thornberry said: “If Penny Mordaunt was truly worried about the organisation’s financial difficulties, she would stay inside it and help reform an organisation that Britain helped create. To just walk away instead is an act of political petty-mindedness and shameless cultural vandalism.”
Yesterday a spokesman for the Prime Minister insisted that the funding would continue, saying: “There has been no change to our commitment to Unesco.
“Since 2016 the UK has made efforts to drive reform and improve performance at Unesco and we have seen positive developments. However, more progress is required.
“We’re committed to ensuring UK aid goes to the highest-performing multilateral agencies that deliver on achieving the UK’s core aid objectives and value for money for taxpayers.”
Mordaunt’s predecessor in Dfid, Priti Patel had also proposed coming out of Unesco in 2016 but that had been vetoed by May.
A Dfid spokesperson said: “There has been no change to our funding commitment to Unesco.
“The UK is working closely with Unesco and other member states to ensure it makes crucial reforms to deliver the best results and value for taxpayers’ money.”
Unesco, which was formed in 1945 in London as an “organisation that would embody a genuine culture of peace” and which promotes international cooperation in areas of education, science, culture and communication.
There are 35 Unesco sites and projects in Scotland, including the biosphere reserves in Galloway and Southern Ayrshire.
Dundee has been designated a Unesco City of Design, while Edinburgh is a Unesco City of Literature, and Glasgow a Unesco City of Music.
The Forth Bridge, the Antonine Wall, New Lanark, the Old and New Towns in Edinburgh, St Kilda, and a group of Neolithic monuments on the Mainland of Orkney, are all Unesco world heritage sites.
According to a recent report commissioned by the body, their projects in Scotland generated an estimated £10.8m from April 2014 to March 2015.
Over the years Unesco has never been far from controversy.
Last year both the US and Israel announced they would leave Unesco, citing “continuing anti-Israel bias”.
The US hasn’t paid its dues to the Paris-based organisation since 2011 when they granted membership to the Palestinian territories.
Trump’s decision to walk away from Unesco followed a decision last July to designate the Old City of Hebron and Tomb of the Patriarchs as Palestinian heritage sites contrary to the wishes of the Israel and US administrations.
The row came as the Flow Country bog in Caithness and Sutherland launched their bid for Unesco world heritage status.
The 494,210-acre expanse of peatbog, lochs and bog pools is more than twice the size of Orkney.
A working group has been set up to try and secure UK Government approval for the application.
There are plans for public consultation on the bid to be held early next year.
A wide range of organisations are involved in the Flow Country Unesco bid and include Scottish Natural Heritage, University of Highlands and Islands (UHI), Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Highland Council, RSPB Scotland and Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).
David Richardson, of the FSB, said: “The Flow Country is of international significance and yet it remains one of our best kept secrets.
“Giving it World Heritage Site status will protect what matters to us all environmentally, while preserving traditional land-uses and opening up a whole new range of the sensitive, compatible and sustainable business opportunities that are so essential to preserving our fragile communities.”
UHI’s Roxanne Andersen added: “The Flow Country peatlands are not only spectacular and unique in their extent and characteristics, they also support world-class research that has the potential to improve the management of all peatlands, globally.”
Only one site in the UK can be put forward for consideration by Unesco each year. The 2018 nomination is a slate mine in Wales.
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