ProInfo
Progressio joined up with the Turn up Save Lives campaign to seize the oppourtunity presented to us by Michael Moore MP's Private Members Bill.
What is 0.7?
Let’s talk about 0.7. What does it mean?
The 2010 - 2015 Conservative - Lib Dem coalition government included in their coalition agreement an intention to create a new law which meant that 0.7% of Gross National Income is spent on overseas aid, anually. At the time the UK was only bound to this amount through a commitment pledge and their was a desire to protect aid spending from future budget cuts. This pledge meant that each Government will ring fence 0.7% of Gross National Income for aid spending, but it was not legally binding and therefore was constantly under threat from other emerging expenses and also often attacked by aid sceptics.
By taking the 0.7 commitment from a pledge to a law, aid spending got the protection it needed and became an integral part of every UK budget.
The bills journey
The 0.7 Private Members Bill was tabled in July 2014 by Liberal Democrat MP Michael Moore. On Friday 5 December 2014 the Bill passed its Third Reading in the House of Commons with 146 MPs turning up to save lives. This was a huge achievement and we are so grateful to all of our supporters who took action and emailed their MPs asking them to be there. After making it through the House of Commons the Bill went on to pass through the House of Lords.
To sum up: We won!!
Read the latest blog about the victory and the importance of aid spending.
