An urgent message to George Osborne
Will you help us get an urgent message to the Chancellor, George Osborne, ahead of the UK Budget on 21st March?
This Budget is important in many ways, not just for those of us living here in the UK, but also for the world’s poorest, as the Chancellor sets out the Government’s spending plans for international development over the next year.
Please join me in writing a personalised letter to George Osborne, asking him to uphold the UK’s proud history of supporting those most in need, by keeping our promise on international aid.
Visit our letter action page to see what you could include in your letter, and please help us send a message to George Osborne that this would be the worst time to turn our backs on some of the poorest, already struggling to get by on a dollar a day.
This is a crucial moment in making sure the UK Government is still on track to spend just 0.7% of national income on international aid by 2013 – just a penny in every pound. You and I know this saves lives, and gives families a chance.
Let’s send a message to George Osborne ahead of the Budget, to make sure we can still be proud of the UK for leading the fight against extreme poverty on 21st March. Just click here to get all the information you need to write your letter.
Thank you for your support.
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About the Blog
The International ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, with guest contributions from ONE volunteers, members and allies.
The content of each post and each comment represents the views of that author and does not necessarily reflect the views of ONE. ONE does not support or oppose any candidate for elected office, and any post expressing support or opposition for a candidate is not endorsed by ONE.
07/03/2012 at 11:50 am
We have vast poverty in the UK at the moment. We need to look after our own before we can fund foreign nations. We still fund China and India from tax payers funds.. how crazy when both nations are richer than us? surely they should now send us money to help our children in REAL need.
Charity begins at home, easy for middle class people to protest, sadly those in povety dont’t do twitter and facebook… as many are homeless..
08/03/2012 at 2:06 pm
Hi Ruth.
I completely understand where you’re coming from, but it’s not an ‘either/or’ situation.. There is no competition for aid between those living in poverty in the UK and those in developing countries. Did you know that only 40p pp. per day put food in the mouths of 15million people last year around the world? Obviously, the British govt have a lot to sort out at the moment, and no attention should be taken away from the alleviation of poverty in this country, but it doesn’t mean we can’t support some of the world’s poorest at the same time! As for India and China, international ‘direct aid’ will help them sustainably, for example, to set up agricultural schemes, or to give every child the access to education. As for their GDP, China yes has a higher GDP that we do, but with a corrupt government, their money is clearly not being spent on the people.. And India is actually not yet a richer nation..
08/03/2012 at 2:44 pm
Ruth,
As much as I agree with you that no one, in the UK or elsewhere, should have to live in poverty, I think the issue is unfortunately a bit more complex than that.
I think in both cases the importance lay in how the money is distributed. Just as in UK, many people in developing countries suffer because although their country possess wealth the money is not fairly distributed. Personally I think the UK is facing the same problem, but perhaps in a more different context (but essentially the problem is that some people remain rich while others poor).
It is therefor vital to ensure that money being spent on foreign aid gets into the hands of the right people and is not fed into corruption, something I know ONE is advocating strongly for.
Also, I would like you to think about how much the UK government is actually spending on foreign aid. A lot of people I talk to are surprised as to how little of the national income UK actually put towards foreign aid.
One of the targets for the G20 countries within the Millennium Development Goals is to spend 0.7% of its national income on foreign aid.
The UK currently spends 0.56% of national income, or or £8.7 billion, on overseas aid. That is equal to 40 pence per person per day in the UK. Not as much as one first may think! It is also important to understand what a tremendous difference this kind of money makes in development countries. In the last ten years, vaccinations have saved the lives of 5.4 million children. That is a lot of lives!
Just as you say, many of the people in developing countries who need our help do not have the means to speak out. I think, just as the person above mentioned, that is not really a question of “either/or”, if money was fairly distributed no one would go hungry and so I think it is important to keep striving towards an equal distribution of wealth across the globe. Included in this, I think, should be that richer countries should help out poorer, because we do have the means to do so (and at the same time, domestic politics should focus on helping the people within UK as well). One does not need to exclude the other, as I think with the right policies it is possible to prevent poverty both in the UK and abroad!