29 April 2010
In the run up to the election the International Development hustings in Glasgow was a reminder to Vote Global. There was unanimous agreement by all parties that more needs to be done to address debt, a hot topic in the debates.

The link between climate change and debt was discussed, highlighting the problems with loans rather than grants to help the poorest countries deal with environmental disasters. This is an issue that is likely to become increasingly important in the future. Establishing fairer financial institutions was seen as top priority. The Conservative Party candidate said his party would look 'very favourably' on proposals to establish international debt tribunals, an important statement from the party, given the controversial back bencher objection to the vulture funds bill. A concerned member of the public questioned whether it was possibile for politicians to contribute to real change in the fight against poverty. All sides responded that if they did not believe in real change then they would not be involved with politics in order to strive for the ideals they wish to achieve.

The hustings indicated that politicians do have debt on the agenda, verbally demonstrating their support for addressing inequality. The task remains to transform these ideals of poverty reduction into real policies.

Click here to find out more about Vote Global