30-03-04

Barrett challenge to Brown on aid spending: “Put your money where your mouth is”

John Barrett, Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West, today called on the Chancellor to 'put his money where his mouth is' by announcing a timetable for increasing development aid to the agreed United Nations target of 0.7%.

The Government announced today that UK overseas' aid spending rose to 0.34% of national income last year, up from 0.31% in 2002.  However, the figure still falls well short of the 0.7% goal set by the United Nations.

As a member of the House of Commons International Development Select Committee, Mr Barrett has visited some of the most impoverished parts of the world, such as Ethiopia and Malawi where he saw first hand the positive difference development aid can make.

In a statement, he said:

"The Chancellor is to be credited for making international development a real priority and for making the years of cuts under the Tories a distant memory.

"However, if his commitment to tackle world poverty is to be taken seriously and if he expects other donor countries to follow, he has to lead by example.  Gordon Brown must now put his money where his mouth is and, at the very least, set a timetable for raising UK development aid to 0.7%. After all, if France, Spain and Ireland can do it, why not the UK?"

ENDS