The British Government keeps its promises to the world’s poor

Nov 19th, 2009 11:38 AM UTC
By Alexander Woollcombe

Alexander Woollcombe from the ONE UK office reports on a significant development:

Good news but there’s more to do

ONE volunteer Jennifer and staffer Tamar at the door of 10 Downing Street with the petition.

These are stormy times in Westminster – but the commitment to help those who most need it remains. And as the UK general election next year approaches it is more important than ever that our politicians understand they are being watched, and need to keep their promises.

Last week we asked ONE supporters to sign up to our petition to “prioritise legislation that makes the UK’s commitment of 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) as development assistance by 2013 legally binding”.

Yesterday ONE supporters Tamar, Jennifer and I delivered our petition to a friendly policeman who opened the black door of Gordon Brown’s house at 10 Downing Street. He promised to pass it on to the Prime Minister “at once”, which was nice of him.

Then the Queen, in her speech to open the new parliamentary session, announced, “draft legislation” to do exactly what we asked. So we won!

It’s a technical thing to ask for, but aid to developing countries is more useful if those receiving it know it is coming and can plan accordingly. It’s also a brave thing for the British Government to announce when the country is still in the grips of recession.

The UK first promised to spend 0.7% GNI on aid nearly 40 years ago. But it hasn’t ever happened. Now all the main political parties have committed to do it by 2013. Gordon Brown announced in September he would propose legislation on this, but it wasn’t a certainty that this promise would make it into the Queen’s Speech.

We didn’t get everything that we wanted however; the Queen announced “draft legislation”, meaning it is very unlikely to become law before the general election, while we want this to happen as soon as possible. But with the help of ONE supporters, and everyone else who cares about Africa and development, we’ll keep the pressure on the Government. There’s a lot of work to do to make aid better but every step in the right direction is a step worth noting. Thanks to everyone who signed the petition.

As Bono said today “the proposal to make the 0.7% pledge legally binding is not just a great announcement, it is transformative of real lives, by a government that has led the world in keeping its promises to the world’s poorest people. The next step is making sure this becomes law as soon as possible, in 2010”.

TAGS: ONE, UK