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I launched a petition in June supporting the Make Poverty History campaign and the Government’s work to get a better deal for Africa through fairer trade, debt relief and increased aid.  I raised the matter in Parliament and sent the petition to Gordon Brown to coincide with the G8 summit at Gleneagles in July.  I also met with the Chancellor and Hilary Benn to let them know the strength of local feeling on this issue.

Since 1997, the Labour Government has more than doubled aid, provided 100 per cent debt relief for amounts owed to Britain, pressed for fairer trade, and pledged to spend £1.5 billion on AIDS funding over the next three years. For the first time ever, under Labour, Britain has a clear timetable for reaching the UN target of 0.7 per cent of GNI for aid by 2013.

However, we can and need to do much more.  One in five of the world’s population are still living on less than 1 dollar a day. 1.1 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water, and 2 billion are without adequate sanitation. 104 million children are not enrolled in school, and some 10 million children die each year before their fifth birthday.  The fight against poverty must continue if we are to meet the global commitment to eliminate poverty by 2015.

Britain’s presidency of the G8 and the EU places us in a strong position to lead the rich countries into taking action over global poverty.

An historic breakthrough was made at the G8 Summit at Gleneagles in July. The main achievements were:

• a doubling of aid to Africa – an increase of $25 billion a year
• increases in aid to all developing countries by 2010: the EU committed to achieve the 0.7% of GNP target by 2015; Japan pledged an extra $10 billion over the next five years; and the US and Canada agreed to double assistance to Africa before 2010 and 2008 respectively
• agreement to pursue innovative financing mechanisms, such as Gordon Brown’s International Finance Facility for immunisation
• agreeing to write off 100% of Heavily Indebted Poor Countries’ debts
• commitments on more effective aid: making efforts to untie aid; disperse aid through country systems where possible; developing countries to take the lead on their development
• commitment to achieve universal access to AIDS treatment for all who need it by 2010.
• Commitment to eliminate all forms of export subsidies and give extra help to least developed countries to build their capacity to trade

The Make Poverty History campaign has been enormously successful in raising awareness of global poverty, and local faith community groups in Tooting have worked tirelessly to improve the lives of the poorest people in the world. I am proud of our community in Tooting playing a leading role in this grass roots campaign.

It is now vital that developed countries continue to work together to ensure that these commitments are implemented. The Government remains absolutely committed to the fight against world poverty and will take every opportunity available to push the plight of the poorest countries to the top of the international agenda.

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