The Guardian: Charities urge MPs not to cut back on overseas aid spending
“Some of Britain’s biggest charities are calling on MPs to stick with the country’s commitment to overseas aid, with a major debate on the subject taking place in Westminster on Monday. Critics say the U.K.’s aid budget — 0.7 percent of national income — is too high. But in a letter signed by, among others, the chief executives of Oxfam, the anti-poverty ONE campaign, Marie Stopes International, UNICEF U.K., and Christian Aid, parliamentarians are told Britain should be proud of the impact it has on millions of lives…” (McVeigh, 6/12).

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Leading aid agencies urge U.K. to stick to aid spending commitment
“…The issue will be debated by lawmakers on Monday, prompted by a petition to scrap the government’s pledge to spend 0.7 percent of national income, or 12 billion pounds ($17.1 billion), a year on aid and to protect the budget from cuts. Central to the petition, launched by the Mail on Sunday newspaper in March and signed by 230,000 people so far, is the spending by private contractors hired by Department for International Development (DfID) to deliver aid…” (Zweynert, 6/12).