So what do we want? money and lots of it
We are calling on Secretary of State for International Development Hilary Benn to:

§ use his influence at the World Bank and IMF to stop these institutions attaching harmful economic conditions to debt relief. Hilary Benn as the UK director at the World Bank has pledged to push this issue at the World Bank and IMF meetings in 2006. It is key that Hilary Benn is pressured by campaigners to make this happen and for the UK to continue its lead internationally on debt.

§ Extend the UK policy on aid to debt relief. (It is now UK policy not to make aid conditional on specific policy decisions such as privatisation and trade liberalisation). In March 2005 the UK government published an encouraging policy change de-linking the money they spend on international aid with harmful demands. The policy paper spoke of the controversial nature of some of these strings and highlighted the fact that policies cannot work unless they are developed and implemented without political or economic coercion. This is a very important point as the UK government should be consistent on this policy whether dealing with aid or debt relief. The UK have responded to this call previously by stating that they are tied to World Bank and IMF rules dictating the strings attached to debt relief. This is unacceptable in light of their new policy on aid and should be accordingly matched by a refusal to add strings to debt relief.

§ Deliver UK debt cancellation without reference to World Bank or IMF conditions. If the UK is truly committed to debt cancellation then they must grant unconditional cancellation outside the HIPC framework with all its strings attached. So far, the UK has only cancelled debts that are owed to Britain (bilateral debt), to those who have reached HIPC completion point. We call on the UK to grant 100% debt cancellation to all those that need it regardless of their HIPC status.