29 September 2009
Tearfund welcomes the announcement, made by the Prime Minister today, to enshrine the existing 0.7 per cent aid commitment within UK legislation.
This will make the level of the UK’s commitment legally binding by 2013, and for aid investment to stay at least at this level from that point onwards.
Laura Webster, Tearfund’s Head of Policy, listening to Gordon Brown’s speech to the Labour Party Conference in Brighton, said: ‘This is the right decision. With so many priorities competing for government spending and fuelling political scrutiny over the next nine months, it is important that development aid is secured in this way.
'In the poorest countries where Tearfund is working lives will depend on it. We hope that the Government is able to push this through Parliament before next year's General Election. If there is one thing the recession is showing us, it’s that the poorest people in the world are always hit the hardest.’