Response to Development Minister Andrew Mitchell's Chatham House speech

Responding to Development Minister Andrew Mitchell’s Chatham House speech on the government’s aid strategy today, Katy Chakrabortty, Oxfam Head of Advocacy, said:

“The Government rightly recognises it needs to prioritise long-term development as well as a focus on poverty reduction and tackling the climate crisis. However it needs to turbo-charge its efforts if it hopes to re-establish itself as a global leader and meet the scale of the challenges the world faces.

“The humanitarian funding announced is unfortunately nowhere near enough to meet the scale of need around the world and its failure to adequately respond to the hunger crisis in East Africa is a stain on the UK’s conscience. In order to restore trust from global allies and the British public, we need to see both a significant increase in the money going to places where it is most needed and for the money to be spent overseas, not here in the UK.”