Bond statement in response to Estimates Day debate on Official Development Assistance

Responding to the Estimates Day debate on Official Development Assistance, Stephanie Draper, CEO of Bond, the UK network of organisations working in international development said:

“Today’s debate cannot be used as a proxy vote on the cuts to the aid budget and we agree with MPs that efforts by the government to disguise it as such are concerning.

When the government made its commitment to spend 0.7% of GNI on aid, it made a promise not only to parliament and the British taxpayer, but to the most vulnerable communities around the world. It is these communities whose lives and livelihoods will be devastated by the cuts to the aid budget unless they are urgently reversed. As each week passes and countless more NGO programmes that help marginalised communities around the world are needlessly cut, it only becomes more urgent to give parliament a say and reverse the cuts to the aid budget.”

ENDS

Notes to editor

On the 7th June, speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle rejected calls for a vote in parliament on the cuts to the aid budget. Bond’s statement can be found here.
Bond is the UK network for organisations working in international dfrevelopment. 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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