UK hires consultancy linked to Trump Gaza plan for 10-year strategy

Consultancy contract

The UK government has hired Boston Consulting Group to help develop its decade-long economic strategy, a move that has drawn scrutiny over the firm's connections to President Donald Trump's controversial Gaza redevelopment proposal, The Times reported on Monday. The US-based consultancy could see the long-term plan scaled back from its original ambitions and delayed until the new year rather than unveiled in December, according to the London-based newspaper.

BCG has faced criticism over its reported involvement in Trump's proposal to transform the Palestinian enclave into a so-called "Riviera of the Middle East," a plan critics have condemned as a blueprint for the displacement of Palestinians. The firm was also instrumental in establishing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israel- and US-backed aid organization that has been accused of facilitating attacks on Palestinians seeking food assistance.

Political reaction

Green Party leader Zack Polanski called for BCG's immediate removal from the government's planning process, condemning the consultancy's involvement in what he termed ethnic cleansing. "Aside from an obvious point that you don't appoint companies like the Boston Consulting Group if you have any actual intention of ending 40 years of neoliberalism, Trump's 'Gaza Riviera' blueprint is clear ethnic cleansing and the idea that Andy Burnham has invited these people into the heart of Downing Street shows contempt for the victims of the genocide," Polanski said in a statement.

The UK government told Politico that BCG's involvement was limited to a single consultant providing "specific specialist advice" to the strategy team. Downing Street did not immediately comment on calls to terminate the contract amid growing pressure from opposition parties and human rights advocates.