WOW: Over half of UK MPs say YES to ending extreme poverty

Politics isn’t a spectator sport. It’s about using your voice to challenge, inspire and demand change in the world. We can’t and shouldn’t leave politics to the politicians and that’s why at ONE, our 7 million members around the world are determined to hold politicians and decision-makers accountable for their actions. It’s for a simple reason – by 2030 we want to live in a world without extreme poverty.

That’s why in March, ahead of the General Election in the UK, we launched our Just Say Yes campaign with an aim to get parliamentary candidates, and later elected-MPs, to sign our pledge which called on them to keep the UK’s promises to the world’s poorest and to do three things:

• ensure that most UK aid goes to those who have the least;
• put women and girls at the heart of international development; and
• demand that all parts of government work together to build a better and safer world.

Today, I’ve got fantastic news. Over half of all Members of Parliament have signed our Just Say Yes pledge and are committed to ending extreme poverty, and preventable disease, by 2030.

It’s a pretty incredible thing to see – in a Parliament full of disagreement, with differences of opinion on all sorts of issues, there is something that unites politicians of difference colours and stripes: the need to change the lives of the world’s poorest.

That’s down to you. Over 36,700 ONE members signed our Just Say Yes petition calling on MPs to play their part. Our t-shirts were spotted at over 50 local hustings events, where we signed up over 500 parliamentary candidates, and our campaign was featured across newspapers, radio, and even TV. It’s been a rollercoaster eight months.

Last week, four of our Youth Ambassadors hand delivered the Just Say Yes petition to 10 Downing Street and asked the Prime Minister to add his name to the pledge. We’ll keep you updated, but in the meantime…

You can join the celebrations by sharing this amazing news on Twitter and Facebook.