A Labour government would commit Britain to ending absolute poverty in the developing world by 2030, the shadow international development secretary, Ivan Lewis, has said.

In an article for the Guardian setting out Labour's new approach to international development, Lewis also pledges to make an end to aid dependency a core part of Labour's mission.

Lewis, who will set out his vision in a speech at the London headquarters of Cafod on Tuesday night, says Labour's approach contrasts with the Tory record, which is being hampered by "ideological prejudices".

David Cameron, who is one of three co-chairs of a UN high-level panel on development, has "an ideological reluctance to focus on equality", Lewis writes. "There is still time for him to put aside ideology prejudices and provide the leadership which is necessary."

The UN panel, whose other members include the Liberian president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was established by the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to draw up plans for development when the deadline for the eight millennium development goals runs out in 2015.

Lewis acknowledges that most of the goals, which include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and improving maternal health, will not be met. In his Guardian article he says Labour would introduce "measurable" aims.

"Our overarching aims should be measurable. By 2030 to have eliminated absolute poverty, begun to reduce inequality, protected scarce planetary resources and ended aid dependency. Ending aid dependency is the right objective for the dignity, independence and self determination of nations and their citizens. It should be a core part of the mission of centre-left development policy."

Lewis says Labour has a proud record after establishing the Department for International Development as a cabinet-level department and formally committing Britain to the UN target of spending 0.7% of gross national income on aid by this year.

"This record and the global leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown deserve more than a footnote in history," he writes. "Ed Miliband is determined to build on their legacy by advocating the big economic and social changes that are necessary if we are to have a fairer and sustainable world in the future."

He says the Tories have cut £2bn from the aid budget, because the shrinking economy means less cash needs to spent to meet the 0.7% target. But Labour would not reverse the cuts.

"The irony is [that] a prime minister who has rightly been lauded for maintaining Labour's aid commitments has also presided over a failed economic policy which has seen £2bn cut from the aid budget due to the downgrading of GDP forecasts. I have made it clear we will not be able to reverse this cut, but an incoming Labour government would put an active industrial strategy at the heart of Britain's renewal."