Hertford and Stortford Constituency Labour Party have condemned the Government’s plan to cut the international aid budget, which would make the United Kingdom the only G7 country to do so in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic. They have said that this would undermine the UK’s credibility as a leader on the greatest global challenges.
Additionally, the local Labour Party have called on Hertford and Stortford’s Conservative MP, Julie Marson, to join the Conservative MPs planning a rebellion against Government aid cuts by supporting the amendment to the Advanced Research and Invention Agency bill, which will reach its report stage in the House of Commons on Monday 7th June.
The amendment has been tabled by the former International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell and now has the backing of former Prime Minister Theresa May, as well as the former Brexit Secretary David Davis, the leader of the One Nation caucus, Damien Green, and former Defence Minister Johnny Mercer.
This vote comes in the same week that the UK hosts the G7 summit in Cornwall, where one of the major themes of discussion will be the provision of support for poorer countries as they recover from the pandemic.
A spokesperson for Hertford and Stortford Labour said, “We’re calling on Julie Marson MP to put party politics aside and do the right thing by opposing the Government’s cut to international aid. The only decent course of action for the Government to take is to commit to restoring the proportion of GDP spent on overseas aid to 0.7% next year, as promised in the Conservative manifesto and honoured by successive Governments.”
