Image credit: WaterAid / Anna Kari

Today the UK Parliament voted to protect international aid and development by putting it into law. The vote passed by an amazing 146 votes to 5, meaning that from next year, the UK Government by law has to spend at least 0.7% of its gross national income on aid and development. There is still one more hurdle to pass and that’s the House of Lords, but if it does go through (and we hope it does) then it will ensure that the UK will continue to transform the lives of those who need help the most.

UK aid is saving a life every two minutes and, since 2011, has provided 43.1 million people with access to clean water, better sanitation or improved hygiene conditions. The vote today in the House of Commons takes it one step closer to becoming law, which will allow aid programmes to be more strategic and plan for the long term, ensuring even more lives are saved.

All of this was because of you. All your tweets and emails to MPs made sure that 146 of them stayed in Parliament today when normally they would be heading back to their constituencies. You managed to convince them that this bill was the right thing to do- something you should be incredibly proud of.

This bill passed on the anniversary of the great Nelson Mandela’s death, a man who himself committed his time to arguing for greater focus on poverty eradication, and it was he who said

“Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom..”

At Global Citizen we believe this generation can eradicate extreme poverty in our lifetimes, and today we took a great step forward towards that goal.

TopicsUKAid

Editorial

Defeat Poverty

Today the UK made history!