CAFOD statement on UK defence spending announcement and cuts to Official Development Assistance
The Director of CAFOD, the Church’s official aid and development agency, has commented on Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s announcement on defence spending and cuts to Official Development Assistance (ODA).
Christine Allen, Director and CEO of CAFOD, said:
“This decision by the British government to reduce ODA from 0.5% to 0.3% means that, in some of the most vulnerable places on earth, more people will die and many more will lose their livelihoods.
“Coming so soon after the USAID freeze, this is another lifeline being pulled away from those in desperate need, at a time when the world feels increasingly precarious.
“The UK has a choice to make: to support those in need or turn our backs on them. What we decide speaks to the very core of who we want to be as a society.
“If we are seeing the decline of aid to support the world’s most vulnerable communities, then the government must redouble its efforts to reform the global debt system, to enable those most in need to emerge from poverty.”
CAFOD has a mechanism to enable you to contact your MP to let them know you oppose these cuts, and that it’s more critical than ever that the UK supports the world’s most vulnerable communities.
Visit the CAFOD site to contact your MP.
