Hilary Benn, the international development secretary, will today announce that Britain will withhold £50m of funding for the World Bank unless the Washington-based institution stops forcing poor countries to liberalise markets and sell off public services.

I don't often have the opportunity to congratulate the Labour government on making a good decision. Maybe Benn is making a bid for leadership of the Labour Party.

This is a good move. Hopefully he won't be "persuaded" to back down. Its a rare thing for a public official to oppose the neo-liberal agenda.