Harry Cohen
WARRINGTON IN 2002
In wishing you all the very best for 2003 I am reminded that at this time of year many of us think about making New Year resolutions. Many of you resolve to think more of others and to be less selfish. In Warrington, people already do this all year round, especially when it comes to speaking up on behalf of the poorest people in the world. I receive a substantial postbag in relation to issues surrounding world poverty and international development from people who are genuinely concerned about their fellow human beings and realise that we live, despite our moans, in a very fortunate country. There are, simply, still too many people in the world who do not have enough to eat, don’t have clean water and for whom the idea of sending their children to school is a distant dream.
In this country, we are making progress on tackling these issues. We have increased the money we spend on development assistance and Claire Short and Gordon Brown have worked hard to get other countries to do the same. As a result we have increased development assistance by 6%.
International targets include halving world poverty, achieving primary education for all and cutting the number of child deaths by two thirds by 2015. These are ambitious targets but ones we can achieve with a concerted global effort. Improving education and healthcare, particularly the fight against HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis, needs to go hand in hand with developing policies in aid, trade, investment in infrastructure and good governance. Gordon Brown has, rightly in my view, called for a new Marshall Plan for developing countries.
Of course, we need to do a lot more. I’ve lobbied both the Chancellor and the Prime Minister on getting a timetable to increase an aid budget to 0.7% GDP - the target set by the United Nations.
All this matters because creating a fairer world is not only morally right but our mutual dependence means that greater social justice is in all our interests. We perhaps think about these issues a little more at this time of year. One of our resolutions this New Year should be to ensure we do not forget the poverty and suffering around the world and do all we can to achieve, and better, the targets we have set to tackle the problem.
Contact Helen Jones – by phone 01925 232 480; by fax 01925 232 239; by e-mail jonesh@parliament.uk or by letter to Gilbert Wakefield House, 67 Bewsey Street, Warrington, WA2 7JQ.
