If you read the news coverage of this carefully, it’s clear that the FCDO has got no idea exactly which bits of the aid budget it will cut in order to fit the new spending requirements.
So I think by far the most tractable thing to campaign on would be to ask the government to protect certain areas of aid spending, and cut others instead. This actually has the chance of changing something over the next few days/weeks.
This seems superficially like a great idea, but I think it works better for, say, the centre for effective aid policy (if it still existed).
It’s easier to decide which things to prioritise if you’ve gone through the things that UK aid actually does and worked out which are better and which are less good.
Your ask will be more effective if you have a good handle on which deprioritisation are a no-go politically (eg are you suggesting deprioritising work in Gaza or Ukraine? Would the politics of that work? Does any of your suggestions bump up against anything the politicians have said publicly?)
You’re more likely to be effective if you can access the right channels. Simply emailing your MP is a very indirect way of getting through to the right people.
All of the issues look surmountable to me if you’re deciding time to this. I don’t think I can do a decent job of this in my spare time. Especially since the window is very tight—these decisions will be made quickly, I suspect.
But if you think you can, please do so and share your thinking with the rest of us :-)
EDIT: though now I think about it, “drop the Chagos Islands deal” could be a politically viable alternative source of funds, give then $8bn cost of the extremely unpopular deal is sort of like inefficient foreign aid. (Though the $8bn is not an annual figure).
If you read the news coverage of this carefully, it’s clear that the FCDO has got no idea exactly which bits of the aid budget it will cut in order to fit the new spending requirements.
So I think by far the most tractable thing to campaign on would be to ask the government to protect certain areas of aid spending, and cut others instead. This actually has the chance of changing something over the next few days/weeks.
This seems superficially like a great idea, but I think it works better for, say, the centre for effective aid policy (if it still existed).
It’s easier to decide which things to prioritise if you’ve gone through the things that UK aid actually does and worked out which are better and which are less good.
Your ask will be more effective if you have a good handle on which deprioritisation are a no-go politically (eg are you suggesting deprioritising work in Gaza or Ukraine? Would the politics of that work? Does any of your suggestions bump up against anything the politicians have said publicly?)
You’re more likely to be effective if you can access the right channels. Simply emailing your MP is a very indirect way of getting through to the right people.
All of the issues look surmountable to me if you’re deciding time to this. I don’t think I can do a decent job of this in my spare time. Especially since the window is very tight—these decisions will be made quickly, I suspect.
But if you think you can, please do so and share your thinking with the rest of us :-)
The CGD suggests spending on migrants inside the UK as a currently elevated item that could be reduced significantly.
EDIT: though now I think about it, “drop the Chagos Islands deal” could be a politically viable alternative source of funds, give then $8bn cost of the extremely unpopular deal is sort of like inefficient foreign aid. (Though the $8bn is not an annual figure).
Thanks Larks. Agree, both of those ideas are already in the template
Another potential source of funds is the UK Government’s estimated ~4 billion GBP worth of bitcoin holdings
Love this mobilising team keep it going!