“When freedom of the press ends, so does democracy. We’ve seen this in the past,” said MEP Jaromír Štětina. The Czech member of the EPP group is a former journalist who lost his job during the Prague Spring back in … read more
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Vice-President and myself, we are delighted to welcome Jüri and his government here today to lay the foundations for the first ever Estonian Presidency. It is a good moment in the Estonian history and it will … read more
88% of respondents felt it important that the EU fund humanitarian aid activities and 90% said it was important that the EU help to coordinate the response to disasters in the EU through its civil protection role. Most EU citizens … read more
Angela Rayner, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, commenting on reports that Theresa May is facing her first uprising of the election as the Tories urge her to abandon school funding plans, said:
“It speaks volumes that even Theresa’s own backbenchers realise her approach to school funding is simply an exercise in moving inadequate sums of money around. On top of this, their cuts to per-pupil spending will mean fewer teachers, cuts to school support staff and larger class sizes; while some schools are not even able to afford basic school repairs.
“Labour supports the principle of moving towards a fairer funding formula for schools and will ensure that all schools have the funding they need. Only Labour will build an education system accessible to everyone, not just the privileged few.”
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3 May 2017
The Green Party has condemned UKIP’s proposal to cut aid spending from 0.7% of national income to 0.2% [1]. The Green Party is opposed to any cuts to the foreign aid budget and believes it should be increased to 1%.
Jonathan Bartley, Green Party co-leader, said:
“Cutting the aid budget will cost lives. Any move to rollback our commitment to international development would be a dereliction of this country’s duty to the rest of the world.
“UKIP’s little-Englander approach has no place in a global, interconnected world. We should be increasing our aid budget, not slashing it by billions of pounds. There’s nothing anti-establishment about scrapping help for those in need.
“Our foreign aid spending is crucial to help stamp out inequalities around the world. A solution that simply creates another problem elsewhere is no solution at all.
“We know that aid alone isn’t enough, and that it must come alongside fairer trading rules, but it is the bedrock of a credible foreign policy where Britain can play a positive role in world affairs. In the coming weeks the Green Party will put forward a bold plan to step up Britain’s global commitments on aid, climate change and nuclear disarmament.”
Notes:
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