Scrapping foreign aid shows Government abandoning world stage
Responding to reports that the Chancellor is set to scrap Foreign Aid, Liberal Democrat International Development spokesperson Wendy Chamberlain said:
For too many vulnerable people in need around the world, UK foreign aid has made the difference between life and death.
Despite previous assurances, the mask has now slipped and we can see the callous Tories for who they really are.
By scrapping foreign aid, the Government is abandoning the world stage and turning a blind eye to the crippling poverty children face around the world.
Now more than ever we need oversight and scrutiny by retaining the ICAI, the International Development Committee and a Development Minister in Cabinet.
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3 Comments
If this country is ,now,too poor! to develop the infrastructure to assist migrants (in any way ie housing ,jobs) THAT foriegn aid could go into developing the countries they come from ie housing jobs for them to be proud off the country they come from.
Perhaps if we in the western developed world were willing to trade fairly and actually pay the full cost of produce from countries of the developing world, there might be far less need for what we like to call foreign aid. We demand clothes, food and other produce for prices that make no sense what so ever then assuage our guilt in contributing to others poverty by celebrating the good we do by donating an arbitrary 0.7 percent of GDP to identified good causes from which we also expect to benefit at some point. I refuse to apologise for the behaviour of people long dead no matter what they may have done, but I will and do apologise for our and sadly also more than I would like or care to admit, my own role in keeping people who are alive today, enslaved in poverty because of a perceived need for cheap throw away goods.
I completely agree Overseas aid should not be cut, and Michael Moore’s private members bill to establish the 0.7% of GDP was one of the better Lib Dem achievements in the Coalition years.
However, it should be remembered there are issues at home too. One of the stones that has been turned during Covid was the illegal conditions in Leicester’s fast fashion sweatshops. Mass-exploitation has been an ‘open secret’ for years with one report revealing up to 90 per cent of workers are not paid the minimum wage….. and it goes well beyond just Leicester.
Wendy Chamberlain would do well if she could work across party not just to tackle poverty overseas but to help remove the mote from our eyes at home and to ensure that employees rights are fully enforced.