Oxfam health promoter Jun Ajuk speaks to Sudanese refugees and returnees on the importance of maintaining hygiene to avoid the spread of disease. Photo: Herison Philip Osfaldo/Oxfam.

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Tax the Super-Rich: Email your MP now

The Prime Minister is reducing the international aid budget from 0.5% to 0.3% of our national income by 2027 and cutting £5 billion from the social security budget.
The impact on people struggling and facing crises in the UK and globally will be devastating.
There are many fairer choices the government could make, such as taxing the super-rich.
Call on your MP to put pressure on the Prime Minister to stop these harmful and immoral cuts.

More about this issue

Tax the Super-Rich: Email your MP now

The Prime Minister is reducing the international aid budget from 0.5% to 0.3% of our national income by 2027 and cutting £5 billion from the social security budget.
The impact on people struggling and facing crises in the UK and globally will be devastating.
There are many fairer choices the government could make, such as taxing the super-rich.
Call on your MP to put pressure on the Prime Minister to stop these harmful and immoral cuts.

More about this issue

The Prime Minister and the Chancellor are drastically cutting the international aid budget and social security spending in the UK. This will increase inequality and poverty in the UK and around the world.

There’s no getting away from the devastating impact. In the UK, more children will live in poverty. Worldwide, more pregnant women will be without midwives, more children will be without teachers and more people will be hungry.

This isn’t the first time the aid budget has been cut by governments in recent years since it was enshrined in law that the UK would spend 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) on international aid. Despite Labour’s election promises to reverse these cuts, they are now cutting it further from 0.5% to 0.3% of GNI by 2027.

The impact of government cuts

International Aid
Cutting the aid budget makes the world less safe. International aid helps prevent conflict, saves lives and responds to the needs of people facing the harshest and most frightening of living conditions. What we’re seeing is short-term thinking that ignores the UK’s international responsibility to provide humanitarian relief.
Social Security
Our social security system is supposed to provide adequate support to everyone, especially those who need it most - and ensure that we can all live a dignified life free from poverty. The current social security system is already struggling to provide enough income for people to afford essentials, and these cuts will impact those already experiencing hardship the most.

These are not “difficult decisions”. They are political choices.

There are many fairer choices Kier Starmer and his government could make which would tackle, not fuel inequality. One would be a 2% tax on those with wealth worth £10 million or more. He could raise £24 billion per year, which would provide much more revenue for people and the planet.

Please stand in solidarity with people in the UK and around the world now. Join us and email to your MP calling on them to pressure Kier Starmer to stop the cuts and tax the super-rich instead.

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Dear {contact_data~firstName} {contact_data~lastName} MP,

I am writing to express my outrage at the cuts the UK Government has made to lifesaving international aid and vital support to people in the UK living with disability and illness. At a time when 3.6 billion people - 44% of humanity – are living in poverty, I am incredibly disappointed that the UK is stepping back from tackling poverty at home and overseas.

Cuts to International Aid

The decision to cut the already shrunken aid budget from 0.5% to 0.3% of Gross National Income (GNI) by 2027 will have a devastating impact on the world’s most vulnerable people. It will mean more children without teachers. More pregnant women without midwives. More people worldwide facing hunger, poverty and insecurity. At a time when conflicts and climate crises are on the rise, and extreme poverty is still rife, the UK is turning its back on those that need it most.

As we know from previous aid cuts, it is usually funding for women and girls and the most marginalised groups which is disproportionately impacted. For example, during the UK aid cuts in 2021, cuts to one UN agency focussed on sexual and reproductive health were estimated to result in 250,000 more maternal and child deaths, and cuts to girls’ education were estimated to result in 700,000 fewer girls receiving an education. These new cuts come at a time when backlash against women's rights and gender justice the world over are reaching new peaks, and we need UK leadership to push back.

A few short months ago, the Prime Minister said: “under my leadership, the UK will lead again, tackling climate change, at home and internationally and restoring our commitment to international development”. But instead, he’s doing the opposite - pulling back on our commitment to international development and planning to reduce aid to the lowest share since 1999. At the same time, the UK continues to spend huge amounts of its international aid in the UK. If this doesn’t change, the amount the UK will genuinely spend overseas will actually be closer to just 0.1% of GNI, lower than all aid donors except Hungary. This is unacceptable and not the global leadership I expected from the Government. 

Cuts to Social Security 

Official government analysis of cuts to social security support for ill and disabled people have indicated that more than 3 million households stand to lose an average of £1,720 per year – at least 250,000 people, including 50,000 children, will be pushed into poverty by 2029/30. This is coming at a time when a record number of children are already living in poverty in the UK – 4.5 million - and more families go without essentials due to the growing cost of living. Recent research from the Women’s Budget Group shows that Disabled people, particularly Disabled women, have already borne the brunt of cuts to social security and public services, experiencing an 11% drop in living standards since 2010.

The UK has the 6th largest economy worldwide, yet it is failing to tackle poverty in the UK and uphold its responsibilities internationally.  

The Government says these cuts are needed to spend more on defence, or supposedly encourage people to get into work. This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the power of investing in reducing poverty and inequality and in enabling people to live dignified lives, in building more prosperous countries and communities. International aid helps prevent conflict, manage climate impacts, and prevents diseases. Safer countries mean a more stable world, and a more stable Britain.

Our social security system is supposed to provide adequate support to everyone, especially those who need it most - and ensure that we can all live a dignified life free from poverty. The current social security system is already struggling to provide enough income for people to afford essentials, and these cuts will impact those already experiencing hardship the most.  But there is also no shortage of alternative, fairer ways to raise more money. For example, a small 2% tax on people with wealth over £10 million could raise £24 billion every year. That’s enough to cover the entire aid budget and the recent cuts to social security. I would much rather millionaires paid their fair share, than money taken away from those living in poverty in the UK and globally.

As well as reversing these deadly cuts, the UK must urgently show it’s still committed to being a force for good in the world by urgently committing to genuine debt relief and by supporting Global South-led initiatives to reform the tax system. On average, lower income countries spend more on debt repayments than on education and health combined. The UK has a particular responsibility to make private lenders in the UK participate in debt relief. These actions cost the UK nothing, but will help free up billions for countries to spend on life saving public services. The Government must strengthen the social security system to ensure that it reduces - rather than deepens - inequality, and everyone, including those who cannot be in paid work due to disabilities, ill health and caring responsibilities, can afford a dignified life.

As one of the largest economies in the world, I want to feel proud that the UK will do the right thing and support those most in need, even when it is hard. I am so disappointed by our government’s decisions and know these choices will have devastating consequences for millions of people.

As my MP, I am asking you to please write to the Prime Minister to share my disappointment and concerns with him and ask him to stop the cuts and tax the super-rich instead.  Please do share your letter and any response with me. I know there will be parliamentary debates on this in the coming weeks, so please do seek every opportunity to raise this issue as much as possible.

I look forward to your response on how you will stand up against these cuts. 

Thank you, 


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For more information on how the super-rich could be taxed and the revenue raised - 
https://taxjustice.uk/blog/how-to-raise-60-billion-for-public-services-our-ten-tax-reforms/

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