Bond statement in response to plan to reduce aid budget to 0.5%

Responding to articles suggesting ministers are considering plans to reduce the proportion of Britain’s gross national income spent on aid from 0.7 per cent to 0.5 per cent, Stephanie Draper CEO of Bond, the UK network for organisations working in international development said:

“The Covid-19 pandemic has cost more than a million lives and devastated countries’ economies, including in the UK. However, with 115 million people about to be pushed back into extreme poverty due to the global pandemic, now is not the time to make a U-turn on a critical Conservative manifesto promise to protect the UK’s 0.7% aid commitment. The government has already recouped nearly £3billion worth of ODA, which shows just how flexible the percentage target is and reminds us that when GNI falls, the amount of aid the UK gives also falls. The Government breaking its promise will do nothing but hurt some of the world’s most marginalised communities.

Dropping the aid commitment to any lower percentage would be a terrible signal for the UK’s global standing, at a time when the world’s eyes will be on the UK as hosts of the G7 summit and the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in 2021.”

ENDS

Notes to editor

Foreign aid spending faces cut to pay for Covid crisis, The Times
Bond is the UK network for organisations working in international development. Bond unites and supports a diverse network of over 400 civil society organisations from across the UK, and allies to help eradicate global poverty, inequality and injustice.
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