BORIS Johnson should prove he is serious about fighting the pandemic by reversing the cut to foreign aid, Ian Blackford has said.
The Westminster SNP leader told the Sunday National that keeping the UK commitment on aid spending was not only morally right but “the sensible thing to do”.
“Morally, we have a responsibility to help protect the most vulnerable but if the UK Government is serious about the eradication of Covid-19 and resuming normality for people across the UK, that includes a commitment to helping eradicate Covid-19 around the world,” said Blackford. “Covid-19 is a global pandemic, and while we are all in the same storm, some nations have better life rafts.”
Protecting the foreign aid budget had long been a source of unity and agreement across the House of Commons and the four nations of the UK. At the last general election, every major party re-committed to helping the world’s poorest and most vulnerable.
“Boris Johnson’s failure to commit to spending 0.7% of national income on aid is yet another broken promise from this Tory Government with far-reaching consequences,” said Blackford.
“UK aid has been cut by almost half since before the pandemic despite Covid-19 having such a profound impact on global security, while spending on girls’ education is down a quarter despite it being a stated priority by the Prime Minister and a manifesto commitment.
“Ensuring girls are educated goes beyond ensuring their equal rights. Educating girls saves lives and builds stronger families, communities and economies. An educated female population increases a country’s productivity and fuels economic growth.”
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The World Bank predicts the pandemic will push up to 115 million people into extreme poverty. In the world’s poorest countries, hunger and cases of malaria are rising and the UN predicts that as many as 11m girls may never return to education after school closures.
Scottish charity EMMS International is one of the many affected by Westminster’s aid constraints.
A project due to start next month in Nepal will have to be delayed until April because of a delay in Government funding.
CEO Cathy Ratcliff said that while the charity is grateful it will still be getting Government match funding for its Every Girl Matters appeal, the delay would mean many girls would miss out on school and patients would die before they could receive access to improved care.
“Families battling chronic illness, including the impact of Covid, will wait longer for the care they deserve and so urgently need, and girls in hard-to-reach areas will continue to miss out on their education,” she said. “For some, the hope of returning to school at all will be lost altogether, along with their best opportunity to escape a cycle of sickness and poverty.”
The Edinburgh-based charity has told the UK Government that the people they help cannot wait and has called for the aid commitment to be reinstated.
“If the delay goes ahead, then many palliative care patients and their families in rural Nepal who should have benefitted from this project starting in July won’t benefit from planned improvements in specialist care,” said Ratcliff. “This is because these patients will die before they can receive access to improved care which relieves pain, reduces poverty and allows young girl carers to stay in school.”
Ratcliff said the pandemic had shown the need for global solidarity “time and time again”.
“It has shown that our health and prosperity are inextricably linked with global neighbours near and far,” she said. “This is no time for the UK to roll back its commitment to life-saving support to the world’s poorest countries.
“The UK is not immune to the financial shock from the pandemic. However, there are other ways the government could meet budgetary challenges without abandoning its aid commitment.”
Scotland’s International Development Alliance has also condemned the cuts.
“Here at the Alliance, we stand in solidarity with those who are losing funding and vehemently oppose the UK Government’s direction of travel at a time when global sustainable development could not be more important,” said a spokesperson.
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