REACTION: Oxfam response to the UK Government’s decision to cut the aid budget

“We understand that defence spending has become a major concern in our fast-changing world. However, cutting the already lean aid budget is a false economy and will only increase division, and amounts to a betrayal of the world’s most vulnerable people. It is a false dichotomy to pit international cooperation to tackle poverty against national security interests in order to avoid tax increases.

“These cuts make a mockery of the Labour Government's stated promise to stand in partnership with the Global South and the pledge it made to the British people in its manifesto. The aid budget, as Conservative and Labour Ministers have conceded in the past, is an investment. Bending to populist pressures may seem easy, but real leadership means standing firm in our commitment to global justice and demonstrating how Britain can be a global force for good."

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