Don’t cut aid, spend it properly
The government has already reduced the budget by hundreds of millions because the UK economy has shrunk this year, but apparently that wasn’t enough. They now want to cut £4 billion more per year and ditch their manifesto promise to meet the 0.7% target. To add insult to injury, they announced plans for billions more in military spending in the same week.
For more than a decade there has been cross-party support for the level of aid spending. That’s why in recent years we have concentrated on how it is spent – exposing the scandal of how too much UK aid is spent on projects that fuel climate change, damage human rights or push private rather than public services in the global south. This trend looks set to get worse following the abolition of the Department for International Development in the summer, and we will continue this important campaign whatever happens this week.
But right now we need to defend the principle of aid itself. Aid is not the whole answer to global injustice, but if used properly, and when combined with action to reduce the damage the rich world does, it could help redistribute wealth and resources. Already there is a huge outcry about these possible cuts – more than 200 organisations wrote to the government in protest on Friday, while public figures from the Archbishop of Canterbury to former prime ministers and MPs from seven parties have criticised the move over the weekend. So far, Boris Johnson has refused to comment either way on maintaining 0.7%.
Over the next two days, we need to mobilise public support for aid, by inundating Conservative MPs with messages from their constituents opposing these cuts. We need every one of them to be in no doubt that if a 30% cut to the aid budget goes ahead, it will not go under the radar. This is a moment to stand up and be counted and demand our MPs act.
Can you write to your MP now, if they’re a Conservative, or share this action now, if they’re not?
|
