Britain's aid cuts will be catastrophic for women and girls
This government is on course to go down in history as one of the worst for women and girls (Labour to defend aid cuts, claiming UK's days as 'a global charity' are over, 13 May). We already know that the aid cuts will be deadly, but wiping out all funding to programmes that support women and girls is a new low – even if the government is saying the budget for women and girls will be 'mainstreamed' or folded into other programmes.
Specific programmes help girls into education, help mothers deliver babies safely, and protect women from violence. While some governments are stepping back from supporting women, I never imagined the UK would follow suit. It's not only catastrophic in the short term for women who will have life-saving support withdrawn but a shortsighted measure that will ultimately work against the government's own peace, security and growth agenda.
Evidence shows that when women thrive, communities and economies prosper, and societies become more peaceful. It's in everyone's interest to ensure that this rash decision, made to balance the books, doesn't now cause irreparable harm in the long run.
The government's rhetoric about 'global charity' and its decision to make savings on the backs of women and girls marks a dangerous shift away from the British values of inclusion and solidarity that it claims to celebrate. This plan would not only be another broken manifesto pledge but it signifies the UK joining a tragic race to the bottom. Dr Helen PankhurstSenior adviser on gender equality, Care International UK
I have decided to follow the example of our esteemed development minister and cancel all my charitable giving in exchange for offering my special expertise. If all UK donors follow the same example, we can destroy the charitable sector and present our esteemed chancellor and her disgraceful colleagues with a massive problem.
That is what is now happening in the developing world. First, Donald Trump decided to cancel USAID, and then his proxy in the UK cabinet decided to kiss his bottom and reduce UK spending in exchange for any expertise that we may have (not much!). For the avoidance of doubt, I was opposed to reducing the foreign aid budget from 0.5% to 0.3% of GDP from 2027. As a higher-rate taxpayer, I believe that I can plead a case for how tax revenues are spent. What a shower!Trevor BonnerSolihull, West Midlands
Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
39 minutes ago
- BBC News
Nigel Farage's Reform UK's rise in London 'a threat to main parties'
Is Reform UK on the rise in London?The party, led by Nigel Farage, says it has quadrupled its membership in the year since the general election, where they won five seats, including one for Farage in UK had the third-highest vote share in the country at the 2024 election - just over 14% - with half a million more votes than the Liberal Democrats. According to polling, London has a smaller share of Reform voters, but it has a higher share of people who say they would consider voting Reform in the future. Not far from the capital, Reform has control of Kent County Council, which had long been UK also has its first London Assembly member, Alex Wilson, who was elected in May 2024. London politics expert Prof Tony Travers told the Politics London programme that the party "could do very well indeed in some of the outer London boroughs, particularly I would say those that voted Leave in the Brexit referendum, so Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Bexley, Hillingdon, even Sutton".He added: "Those are the places I think they could well do a lot of damage to the incumbent parties."Laila Cunningham, a Westminster city councillor who last week defected from the Conservatives to Reform UK, told Politics London that her residents "would always point to how they were let down by the previous Conservative administration and how they wouldn't vote for them".She added: "Honesty, I think, is really lacking in politics now and I just couldn't defend their record." Cunningham said Reform UK were "serious about getting this country back on track, they're serious about cutting immigration, cutting crime, cutting waste, cutting tax and people say that's right wing but that used to be mainstream a few years ago".Deirdre Costigan, Labour MP for Ealing Southall, told Politics London that Reform UK's "key policy seems to be a massive tax cut for the rich".She added: "How are they going to pay for that tax cut? The only way of paying for that is to cut public services. So, we'll have less police on the streets of London and we won't have an NHS."Conservative London Assembly member Alessandro Georgiou told the programme that Farage "is a tax-and-spend socialist, if you take what he says". Watch the full Politics London programme on BBC iPlayer.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Putin unleashes huge onslaught of 500 missiles & drones in night of hell for Ukraine as Nato warplanes scrambled
VLADIMIR Putin has unleashed another night of hell over Ukraine with a 500 missile and drone onslaught. Nato was forced to scramble its warplanes after the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk was hit in an apocalyptic blast which turned the skies a crimson red overnight. 2 2 The city was attacked by Putin's forces with cruise missiles, hypersonic missiles, and Iranian-designed Shahed attack drones simultaneously. Four Kinzhal and seven Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles were also fired at Ukraine. Putin ordered his Tu-95 strategic bombers and MiG aircraft to carry out the heinous air assaults. It was the most powerful blitz on the city since the start of the war back in 2022. Ukraine claimed to have downed 475 out of 537 aerial targets. Poland's operational command quickly announced that Nato fighter jets were scrambled because of the intensity of the Russian onslaught. They said in a statement: "Due to the attack by the Russian Federation carrying out strikes on objects located in the territory of Ukraine, Polish and allied aviation has begun operating in our airspace. "The Operational Commander of the [armed forces] has activated all available forces and resources at his disposal. "The on-duty fighter pairs have been scrambled, and the ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have reached the highest state of readiness. "The steps taken are aimed at ensuring security in the areas bordering the threatened areas." Putin also mounted attacks across much of Ukraine in what is reported to be one of the heaviest bombardments of the three year conflict so far. A missile strike on Zaporizhzhia left an industrial facility on fire. Mykolaiv and Donetsk region were also both badly hit. The Russians targeted Lviv in western Ukraine as well. Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said Russian forces attempted to strike critical infrastructure, but no civilians or residential buildings were damaged. A Ukrainian F-16 supersonic fighter supplied by the West was shot down with the loss of a 'hero' pilot amid a desperate operation to counter 500-plus strikes by Vladimir Putin's forces. Pilot Lt-Col Maksym Ustimenko, born in 1993, shot down seven air targets using all his weapons before he was hit. 'The pilot used the entire complex of on-board weapons, and shot down seven air targets,' said the Ukrainian air force. 'During the last exercise, his plane was damaged and began to lose altitude. 'Maksym Ustimenko did everything possible, took the plane away from a settlement, but did not have time to eject... 'He died like a Hero!'
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Support for Bilston Market traders rejected
A motion to financially support displaced market traders in Wolverhampton has been defeated. Traders said they had suffered financial loss as well as ill health since Bilston Outdoor Market relocated last year to make way for a £5.2m upgrade of the site.A plea for financial support, asking City of Wolverhampton Council to "step in immediately" was defeated at a full council meeting this week. A statement from the council said major projects were rarely completed without "some level of disruption". Anita Stanley said two traders had suffered ill health and another had quit. The Reform UK ward member for Bilston North said traders had also been informed improvements would not be completed until 2026, rather than before Christmas, as originally motion called on the council to put together a financial package to offset trader's losses, freeze rents, and issue an apology letter - but it was defeated at a full council meeting. Cabinet Member for Resident Services, councillor Bhupinder Gakhal, said the Bilston market scheme had "been shaped" by the people who use it - and the council had positive feedback from traders and residents throughout the said: "I want to be absolutely clear we will not cut back on our ambition for Bilston. I see the new market as a key development, the catalyst for even further investment in and around it."Major, multimillion-pound projects are rarely completed without some level of disruption. "We know from talking to market traders and local businesses that the current situation has created some positives and some negatives. "We will continue to listen to and work with them to make this is as pain-free as we can, whilst preparing them for the bigger prize and opportunities the scheme will create."After listening to traders' ideas in March, the council said phase two of the project would find a way of "better connecting footfall" from the bus station to the indoor market. Gakhal said the council was also announcing a £15,000 fund to increase footfall through events in the area. "I am determined to ensure that traders have a big say in how this is used but I'm clear that it will benefit both the indoor and outdoor markets and the wider town centre", he said. Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
