Shameful cuts to UK foreign aid programme It s Local Election Day on May 6, but my thoughts are for the moment on things overseas, in lands much poorer than ours, where people (usually women and children) walk to collect water from often polluted sources, in doing so bringing home preventable sickness to family members. I once worked proudly with our Government’s Aid programme to help communities build systems to end this most pitiful of poverty. The Johnson Government’s decision to cut by 80 per cent the finance it directs to this need is to my mind not only deeply shameful but also self-defeating.
Don t cut Covid aid This week what most of us sensed was officially confirmed, our economy has seen its largest fall ever. As a result, many are struggling here in Wiltshire as well as the rest of the country. Wiltshire has as a result already 1,000 extra children qualifying for free school meals. Record numbers of our neighbours are furloughed, or now rely on Universal Credit. Both of these vital support mechanisms may well be withdrawn in the case of the former or cut in the case of the latter. Loans taken by businesses in order to survive, now face imminent deadlines for the start of repayments.
Letters: Praise for Israel s Covid vaccination programme and a plea for Govt Covid support swindonadvertiser.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from swindonadvertiser.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A pantomime created by the Government So the Prime Minister s Oven Ready Deal of last December has turned into a last minute dot com turkey , that may or may not be ready for Christmas, let alone the, all important, December 31st Brexit deadline. With a fortnight to go before Britain goes out the EU exit door, local businesses and residents are left with no idea of what we will all face in the New Year. 2020 has been a desperate year for so many. Yet at a time of national crisis, we have had a Government of utter incompetence. They have made over 14 policy U turns including being embarrassed by footballer Marcus Rashford into providing food for hungry children and made vacuous boasts of a world class Covid track and trace system.