SOUTH Swindon MP Julia Drown yesterday spent 30 minutes with Prime Minister Tony Blair urging him to further increase the Government's spending on international aid.
It follows the emergency meeting she chaired in the House of Commons when she joined Bob Geldof, Frances O'Grady, Deputy General Secretary of the TUC, and the Bishop of Portsmouth in issuing a rallying call to increase spending from 0.4 per cent to the UN target of 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income.
Labour's Ms Drown who co-chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Heavily Indebted Poor Countries, has been leading a campaign to reach the target, which was agreed 34 years ago.
The Government decides the levels of all its spending for the next three years when it publishes its Comprehensive Spending Review this week. Ms Drown said: "It would be a big though affordable commitment to reach the 0.7 per cent target but that is what I want to see. The Prime Minister pointed out the difficulty of finding all the resources but he showed determination and a commitment I welcome."
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