Use the template letter below to write to your MP and ask them to stop privatising aid.

Dear [add the name of your MP], 

As a global pandemic sweeps the world, it is bringing the huge inequalities of our global system into sharp relief. Over the past years, we have seen an increase in the privatisation of public services in the UK due to the Private Finance Initiative, which has often cost more, achieved little and left communities with substandard or no services. It is extremely concerning that we are exporting this model, which Philip Hammond stepped away from as Chancellor, to some of the poorest countries in the world.

Simply put, our taxpayer-funded aid programmes are supporting private businesses to make money out of the poorest people accessing health and education. They are placing profit before people, and shareholder dividends before development. The merger between the Department for International Development and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office makes scrutiny of aid even more difficult.

If coronavirus takes over some of the world’s poorest countries in Asia, Africa and South America, millions of people could die. People are already crammed into slums, overcrowded hospitals, with little money given to help the poor, all while private lenders are due to be paid $10 billion this year alone. As your constituent, I am calling on you to ask the government ​to halt the excessive use of PPPs previously supported by DFID, publicly recognise the risks of PPPs for inequality and support states’ public financing of essential public services.

Find out more about The Equality Trust’s campaign to reform financing for development at www.equalitytrust.org.uk/development-not-dividends

Yours Sincerely,
[add your name]