Following the Prime Minister’s statement on Afghanistan, Andrew Mitchell highlights the importance of soft power, and the Girls’ Education Challenge Fund in particular, and calls on the PM to revisit the decision to cut our development spending in Afghanistan by £200 million pounds.
Speaking in the Estimates Day debate, Andrew Mitchell calls for a meaningful vote on the 0.7% overseas development which will result in severe cuts to the UK’s work on education for girls, on neglected tropical diseases and funding for the British Council, the Voluntary Service Overseas and the International Citizen Service.
Andrew Mitchell questions the Prime Minister about the Foreign Office announcement that Britain is to cut its support for tackling neglected tropical diseases by 95% and calls on the PM to give MPs a meaningful vote on the cut to the 0.7% target for overseas development assistance before the summer recess.
Andrew Mitchell praises the Prime Minister’s significant success at the G7 last weekend but calls on him to reverse the decision to cut overseas development assistance which is doing grave damage to the reputation of global Britain.
Andrew Mitchell raises concerns about the situation in Ethiopia where 2 million people have now been driven from their homes over the border into Sudan with many facing starvation and calls on the Government to urgently provide more humanitarian aid to the region.
Andrew Mitchell leads an Emergency Debate on the cuts to Britain’s development budget which will fall first and hardest on the humanitarian sectors; specifically girls’ education, clean water and sanitation, HIV/AIDS and food assistance.