CNA Staff, Nov 26, 2020 / 10:35 am
Cardinal Vincent Nichols urged the U.K. government Thursday to reconsider a proposed cut to its foreign aid budget.
In a letter to MPs released Nov. 26, the president of the bishops' conference of England and Wales expressed concern at the proposed cut in overseas aid from 0.7% of gross national income to 0.5%.
"In today's figures that amounts to a cut of around £4 billion [$5.3 billion] in spending on help to the world's poorest people," he wrote.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced Nov. 25 that the government intended to abandon its commitment to the 0.7% target contained in the Conservative Party's 2019 general election manifesto.