Wednesday 25th November could be an important day for children. It is when Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, will announce his spending plans for the year ahead, and it is a chance for him to restate the UK’s commitment to spend 0.7% of the country's gross national income (GNI) on aid. Or not.
You might have read about this in the news, so here’s some context.
Why does this matter?
In 2015, following calls from MPs, charities and people across the country, the UK Government passed a law committing to invest 0.7% of our GNI in aid programmes and expertise. Fixing the aid spending to the health of the economy means that it’s always affordable - aid spending is cut when the economy shrinks, and when the economy grows, the aid budget does too. It helps us to do our bit to make sure children in other countries can get the food, healthcare and education they need.
Honouring the budget commitment is the right thing to do. At a time when 150 million children are being pushed into poverty, UK aid is making a huge difference. It saves lives. And it’s one of the ways the UK acts as a positive force for change around the world. Turning inwards and cutting the aid budget would damage our global standing at a critical moment for collaboration.
Given all of this, it’s no wonder the Conservatives vowed to protect the 0.7% commitment in their 2019 manifesto (as they have done since 2010), which was soundly endorsed by the public who voted for them.
The aid budget has already been cut this year
Due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the economy has shrunk significantly and, since July, £2.9 billion has been cut from UK aid programmes.
But the Government has hinted that it wants to go further and cut the aid budget to 0.5% of GNI – almost a third less.
This would be a disaster for children around the world.
The impact of the cuts
Aid programmes often focus on long-term, strategic changes. For example, a programme to help children read will change the lives of the children it reaches. But if it can run year after year, the positive effects multiply. Over the months and years, literacy spreads across families and communities. Other skills can be learned and passed on, jobs can be created and more people escape poverty.
But if that programme is stopped, the benefits stop too. Younger children are denied the education of their older siblings. The older siblings are burdened with becoming readers and translators for their families. Future generations are denied access to jobs and other opportunities. Everything starts moving backwards.
And that’s just one example. If a vaccination programme stops, a community’s resilience to illness weakens over time, making outbreaks more likely.
If a nutrition programme stops, more and more children can no longer fulfil their potential at school and later at work, trapping them in a cycle of poverty.
Often the children who benefit from aid programmes have little other support infrastructure, such as access to education and healthcare. When the programmes they depend on go, it pulls the rug from underneath them, and the effects can be devastating.
Tragically, this is already happening in 2020. When the Government cut £2.9 billion from the aid budget, the axe fell sharply on children. The education budget has been cut by 22%. Nutrition programmes have been cut by £17 million.
How many children will suffer as a result of that?
There is another way
The coronavirus crisis has shown us how interconnected we are. I am not safe from a fatal disease if my neighbour is not. And if my neighbour has been destabilised because of poverty, or conflict, or climate change, it’s only a matter of time before I am too.
2021 is right around the corner - and it’s going to be a big year for the UK. We’re hosting the G7 summit and the COP climate conference. We will have left the EU. This could be the year when we stand up for positive change in the world. We could get world leaders around the table to plan how the world builds back better from coronavirus. Together, we can make sure every child can read, access the health and nutrition programmes they need, and thrive in a safe and stable climate.
The world is coming together like never before. For the first time in a long time, a better world feels right around the corner. The UK must rise to the occasion. This is the time for big thinking, not penny-pinching. Especially from the children who have least.
