We have an urgent opportunity to try and stop the government’s aid cuts next week. But we need your help to do it.

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Hi John,
We have an urgent opportunity to try and stop the government’s aid cuts next week. But we need your help to do it.

Just this week, a group of Conservative MPs who oppose the £4-5 billion cuts to aid spending have tabled an amendment to legislation due to be discussed in parliament on Monday. If selected and passed, this amendment would force the government to maintain aid spending at 0.7% of national income in 2022.

So far, a number of high profile Conservatives are backing the amendment and the rebellion appears to have a real chance of passing. However, the vote is going to be incredibly close and is likely to be decided by the smallest of margins.

Will you use our online form to write to your MP immediately and ask them to vote with the amendment on Monday?
Email your MP ([link removed])


** Aid cuts are a political choice, not an economic necessity
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The government has cut the UK’s international aid budget from 0.7% to 0.5% of national income, meaning it will fall from £15 billion to £10 billion this year. The aid budget would have fallen anyway as national income has fallen, but the government's cuts go further and deeper. Meanwhile, they are increasing military spending by £6 billion a year.

That means that they are a political choice, not an economic necessity, reflecting the government's ideological opposition to aid.

The choices about what to cut and how far are deeply political. Projects supporting women’s rights, family planning, water and sanitation, and AIDS prevention face the heaviest cuts.

Some estimates suggest that 100,000 people could die [1] as a result of cuts to aid spending on healthcare, while 4.5 million fewer children will receive a decent education. The humanitarian response budget has been cut by £700 million (44%) compared to pre-Covid levels.

It is monstrous for the government to be cutting this support to the world’s most marginalised communities in the midst of a global pandemic. Cutting aid will have almost no impact on the UK’s own finances, but is likely to exacerbate poverty in some parts of the world.

Tell your MP to vote against the aid cuts on Monday.
Email your MP ([link removed])
Winning this vote could be a very embarrassing setback for the government and might make them rethink these dangerous cuts in the long term as well.

We know that winning this vote on 2022 spending alone won’t change all of the other misguided ways in which this government approaches development policy. But it can be an important moment to prevent further damage being done.

We must take this opportunity to show that there are more people than ever ready to oppose their plans and stand in solidarity with those in the global south.

Warm regards,

Daniel Willis
Campaigner at Global Justice Now

NOTES

[1] UK aid cuts 'unprincipled, unjustified and harmful', say experts and MPs, ([link removed]) The Guardian, 26 November 2020
** Can you help stop the corporate hijack of the aid budget?
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Aid should be spent tackling poverty and inequality – instead it's supporting big business and lining private pockets.
Regular gifts give us the long-term stability to plan effective campaigns, exposing those who seek to profit from the UK’s aid budget or pushing back against development funds being used to privatise public services in the global south.

If you’re not already a member, will you join today?

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