Brits say UK ‘dramatically diminished’ actor on global crises

The United Kingdom plays a “dramatically diminished” role in confronting global problems compared with 20 years ago, according to public polling released to mark the anniversary of the 2005 Make Poverty History campaign. The survey, carried out for the ONE Campaign, found only 14% of Britons believe their country is a global leader — compared with 35% two decades ago, when the United Kingdom’s leaders, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, put boosting aid and canceling debt center stage for its G8 presidency. Yet three-quarters of Britons believe the U.K. should address worldwide challenges, the polling found, prompting a coalition of NGOs to call on the current prime minister, Keir Starmer, to revive the spirit of the 2005 campaign and make the U.K. “a true ally” of lower-income nations. Twenty years after a famous Nelson Mandela speech in London’s Trafalgar Square — in which the former apartheid prisoner urged world leaders to free people “trapped in the prison of poverty” — around 200 campaigners attended a commemoration event, some lobbying MPs afterward. Tom Fletcher, the British-born United Nations humanitarian chief, told the London gathering: “The U.K. needs a sense of purpose, it needs a mission — and there is no larger mission than this.” Kirsty McNeill, a former executive director at Save the Children, and now a U.K. government minister, acknowledged that after the 2005 campaign, the combination of political, cultural, and moral leadership with public enthusiasm had never quite been repeated. “We need to pull on all of those strings, all of the time, but the most important is what working people can do,” McNeill said, arguing the public in 2005 responded to Mandela’s call “to be that great generation.” In 2005, Mandela told a crowd of more than 20,000: “Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is manmade, and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.” Five months later, the Group of Eight major economies summit in Scotland agreed to a $25 billion annual aid increase and debt relief for 18 of the world’s lowest-income countries, including 14 in Africa. However, there was no deal on eliminating unfair trade subsidies, and many aid organizations said the Make Poverty History campaigners had been betrayed. The fresh poll, carried out by the More in Common organization, found that: • 57% of Britons believe wealthy countries have failed to deliver on the commitments Mandela called for in 2005, including fairer trade, debt relief, and high-quality aid. • Two-thirds of respondents believe global problems — such as poverty, inequality, and climate change — are more severe now than in 2005. • 46% of Britons view their country as “a follower,” rather than a leader, on global issues — up from 24% two decades ago. A letter to Starmer, signed by the heads of NGOs including ONE Campaign, the Bond network, Save the Children UK, Plan International UK, and WaterAid, reads: “In 2005, as host of the G8, the UK showed leadership. In 2025, the world looks to Britain for partnership.” It urged the prime minister to invest in global health and fulfill the commitment to spend 0.7% of gross national income on aid. “Low and middle-income nations need a true ally, supporting locally led development and a path to a sustainable future. And this year, it is fitting that South Africa leads the G20 for the first time, with an agenda for action that Britain should support.”