News

.... a weekly column from Dover and Deal MP Gwyn Prosser

7 June 2007

In 2005 your response to Live 8 and the Make Poverty History campaign showed that the people of Dover & Deal and the country at large, demanded action to improve the lives of millions of the poorest people in the world. That's why in 2005 the Labour government focused the leaders of the developed world on the fate of the poorest people on the planet.

More than 8 million of us wore a white band and hundreds of thousands marched in the streets to show our support for ending world poverty.

That campaign made a real difference. At Gleneagles, world leaders from the G8 countries pledged to increase aid, especially to Africa, and to cancel debt to a multitude of countries

It was a moment when our country spoke with one voice to show we would lead the fight against extreme poverty and injustice in our world and politicians and world leaders really listened.

I remember having the same conversations with Dover Christian Aid and my constituents in my local office as I did with colleagues in my parliamentary office. We all watched the Live8 concerts and we all wanted to see real action, not just promises. That’s why I backed our Prime Minister and Gordon Brown in their tireless work to broker a deal at Gleneagles.

It’s time we took a good hard look at what we achieved together. This week, the leaders of the G8 countries – the same ones that promised to cancel debt and increase aid to Africa – are meeting in Germany to decide on further action. And we can now see whether our campaign made a real difference to people for whom our help can mean the difference between life and death.

We can be proud, knowing that the UK has kept its promises and we are on track to increase the amount we spend on aid to the promised 0.7 per cent of national income by 2013. We have cancelled every single penny owed to us by the world’s most indebted countries; the debt deal agreed at Gleneagles has cancelled all the debts owed to the IMF, the World Bank and the African Development Bank of 22 of the world’s poorest countries; and we have worked hard to end conflict around the world.

There’s still a lot more to do of course but we can already see that our work is helping people in practical ways. In fact, UK aid now helps about 5,000 people get out of poverty every single day.

Our efforts are helping millions of children a year go to primary school in Bangladesh; more than a million people in Sub-Saharan Africa get treatment for HIV which is saving the lives of 250,000 people every year.

We can take some pride in what we have achieved so far but we must not be complacent. By the end of the month, Britain will have a new Prime Minister and I know that Gordon Brown will continue campaigning with other world leaders to Make Poverty History.