New MP Lobbied to ‘Make Poverty History’

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Local nuns hold meeting with Greg Hands

Newly elected Hammersmith & Fulham Member of Parliament, Greg Hands, was lobbied by local supporters of the ‘Make Poverty History’ movement this week, who called on him to campaign for increased aid and fair trade for the developing world.

Among those lobbying the MP included nuns from Nazareth House and the Society of the Sacred Heart Provincial House, both based in Hammersmith. The meeting took place on 8 June at Bishop Creighton House on Lillie Road and a digital photograph of Greg with the group is attached to the email version of this Press Release.

The nuns and others who came via CAFOD (the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development) gave Greg their views on trade, aid, debt and other problems affecting the Third World in general and Africa in particular. Some of them had practical experience of years spent in countries like Uganda and Zimbabwe.

With more than a billion people living on less than a dollar a day, Greg believes that there is a strong case for increased aid to the developing world, provided that it is distributed by accountable organisations and is delivered on the basis of encouraging good government and sustainable development.

Commenting, Greg said: “It was a great pleasure to have met so many people who feel so passionately about this issue – and listen to their arguments. I agreed with much of what they had to say and as an MP I will be lobbying the Government to make sure that these barriers are broken down and the shackles removed from third world economies to let them trade their goods freely.”

Greg also believes it is a crime that many third world countries are kept in poverty by the huge agricultural subsides paid to farmers in the European Union.

June 13, 2005