CAFOD supporter responds to report ‘slamming’ aid

Jim Quinn, CAFOD supporter writes in response to research on the aid budget published by Politics Home and YouGov@Cambridge, Wednesday 22 June.

"As someone who is concerned about the welfare of others and a supporter of the Catholic aid charity CAFOD, I was pleased to see from a new poll published by Politics Home and YouGov@Cambridge that 41 per cent of the public remain favourable towards international aid as opposed to 38 per cent recorded as unfavourable. I believe that core support for the principle of helping others in the poorest countries is not only morally right but fundamental to who we are as a country, even if there are clearly sharply-divided views about how much of a priority it should be.

Ask the PM to keep the aid promise>>

"For my part, I believe passionately that the government must fulfil its commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on overseas aid. I was recently made redundant but I know there are millions of people in the world much worse off than me. I may have lost my job but I don’t have to try and live on just a dollar a day. And as long as there are people for whom overseas aid is the difference between life or death, food or hunger, education or illiteracy, vaccination or disease, there is no question for me that it should continue to be one of this government’s top priorities.

“Charity aid does work”

"I was sad to read in the research that many people said they would be less inclined to give to charity if they knew the government was giving more in aid. These people seem to be making a calculation that if the government is doing more, their help is not needed – so when they see pictures of poverty and disaster overseas, they don’t have to worry because someone else is taking care of it. This is a very narrow view. Charity aid does work, often reaching people that government aid can’t. The truth is they are both needed.

"I do what I can to support CAFOD because I want to help someone in need – wherever they are. One of the reasons I support CAFOD is because they believe that acts of charity transform our own lives, not just the people we’re helping. It is an act of faith – in more ways than one. Even for those with no religion, it’s about the basic human instinct that if we know someone else is suffering whether here or overseas, we suffer too, and we want to help.

“Little acts of charity make a difference”

"And it helps to know that those little acts of charity do make a difference. The survey showed that when people get away from the abstract debates and the big numbers and think about the individual projects supported by aid or the efforts to vaccinate individual children, the numbers favourable to aid are much higher. Again, one of the reasons I support CAFOD is because I can see the results of their efforts in the lives saved or communities transformed.

"So I hope the Government will not only stick by its commitments on aid, but also have the courage to make the moral case for why aid is important. I’ve heard politicians argue recently that aid is about tackling terrorism or illegal immigration or Britain having more influence in the world, trying to persuade people it’s in Britain’s self-interest to raise the aid budget. Those arguments may be correct, but the fundamental reason we should keep to our commitments on aid is that it’s a demonstration of what we stand for as a country, as a society, and as individuals: it makes me proud to be British.

My MP supports aid commitment

"A fortnight ago, I was one of more than 1,200 voters at the Tea time for change event in Westminster, where we sat down with our MPs and made the case to them about how Britain could help the poorest countries, not just through increased aid but through tougher rules on the multinational companies exploiting the natural resources in those countries. I was pleased to sit down with my local MP for Redditch, Conservative Karen Lumley. She told me she fully supported the 0.7 per cent commitment and would be writing to George Osborne to pass on the other points I made.

"According to the survey, taking that stance will not gain Karen any votes and indeed it could cost her support in some quarters. But in an era when trust and faith in politicians has fallen so low, how rare and refreshing it is to see MPs of all parties – and the Government as a whole – supporting and making the case for increased aid not because it will gain them votes and popularity, but because it is simply the right thing to do."

Find out more

The research can be downloaded from the Politics Home website.