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Election 2010 World Poverty Day

16 April 2010

This weekend, the election 2010 World Poverty Day will see the election campaign focus on international development.

Brown, Cameron and Clegg will set out how their parties would address Britain’s contribution to fighting poverty and injustice around the world.

All main party leaders will mark the election campaign ‘World Poverty Day’ on Sunday 18 April by outlining their visions of how the UK should act on its responsibility to the wider world.

David Cameron is expected to visit a leading aid agency, Nick Clegg will speak at a church in New Malden, Surrey on Sunday morning and Gordon Brown will address an audience in Milton Keynes on international development on Saturday afternoon.

The Green Party, SNP and Plaid Cymru are also participating in World Poverty Day with press statements and visits to anti-poverty charities.

In a shared manifesto, Vote Global (www.voteglobal.org.uk), over 180 civil society organisations, including all of Britain’s leading development and aid organisations, have set out the key political commitments necessary for Britain to play its full part in fighting poverty and injustice around the world.

“We ask the next UK Government, whoever wins the election, to step up Britain’s global leadership and contribution to fighting world poverty and to deliver on the actions set out in the Vote Global manifesto,” said Nick Roseveare, Chief Executive of Bond, the UK membership body for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in international development.

“We very much welcome that all the main political parties have committed to keeping this country’s promise of spending 0.7% of national income on international development by 2013 and will introduce legislation to keep it at least at that level.

Tackling poverty and inequality is about more than just aid. Other policies - on international trade, debt and banking, climate change and so on - must also support the goal of eradicating global poverty and meeting poor people’s basic rights to a dignified, educated, safe, and healthy life.”

“The British people care passionately about the poorest people in the world, even when money is tight - the staggeringly generous responses to fundraising appeals prove it. Bond organisations spend more than £2 billion per year on fighting world poverty. Through campaigns like Make Poverty History, and on climate change, the public have told politicians clearly that they expect action. The organisations behind the Vote Global manifesto have millions of active supporters, far more than the membership of the UK political parties. They are making their voice heard.”

All politicians elected at the forthcoming polls are being asked to hold the new Government to account against the demands of the Vote Global manifesto to improve the UK’s own policies on international development and to play a leading and progressive role as a member state of the EU and on the global stage, starting with the G8/G20 in June and the UN summit on world poverty in September.

Notes to editors:

1.       For media contacts of UK aid and development charities see www.voteglobal.org.uk/media.

Journalists should contact the political parties for details of their events and activities for World Poverty Day.

2.      The Vote Global website (www.voteglobal.org.uk) includes the following resources:

The Vote Global manifesto (www.voteglobal.org.uk/issues/manifesto) is endorsed by over 180 organisations (see here for full list www.voteglobal.org.uk/list-signatories).

Summaries of the International Development of party manifestos are available for the Conservative Party, Green Party, Labour Party and Liberal Democrats. For ‘Where the Parties Stand on international development and world poverty issues’, see: www.voteglobal.org.uk/issues/parties-stand/.

Updates on activity throughout World Poverty Day and the election campaign on international development, see www.voteglobal.org.uk/news and on Twitter by following @vote_global.