TEA TIME FOR CHANGE LOBBY

That this House applauds the Tea Time for Change mass lobby for international development held on 9 June 2011; congratulates ActionAid, the Catholic Overseas Development Agency (CAFOD), Christian Aid, Oxfam, Save the Children and Tearfund in organising this hugely successful event and strengthening hon. Members-constituent relationships; commends their enduring commitment to fighting poverty and injustice; welcomes the Government's ring-fencing of the international aid budget and its pledge to increase aid spending to 0.7 per cent. of Gross National Income; notes that international development can further be enhanced by pressing multinational companies to make public what they pay to governments in developing countries; further notes that financial transaction taxes have been identified as an innovative way of funding international development; and urges the Government to consider pursuing these measures through UK legislation, in the European Union and at the G20 meeting in November 2011.