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Closed Keep spending a fixed 0.7 per cent slice of our national wealth on Foreign Aid

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A popular petition wants to end our committment: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/125692 . This is totally wrong. As a country, we committed to giving 0.7% of our GDP to help countries which are in far direr straits than we are. Charity starts at home, but we must help others too.

People often protest that it all goes to corrupt officials, but the solution is not to spend less, but to spend smarter. We must keep giving for those who do use the money wisely.

A way to improve the effectiveness of foreign aid could be to end the requirement for countries to subscribe to free trade deals when they receive certain forms of it (as economist Ha-Joon Chang argues).

This webpage counters many myths about foreign aid: https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/get-involved/myths-about-aid/

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    If this petition gets 10,000 signatures, government will respond to it.

    If this petition gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

    This petition will stay open until 6 October 2016.