International thinking is key for COVID-19 response - Labour - The Evesham Observer

International thinking is key for COVID-19 response - Labour

Evesham Editorial 18th Apr, 2020   0

VALE Labour chiefs have urged the Government to ‘think internationally’ in its response to the ongoing Coronavirus crisis which has seen the number of deaths in the county increase to more than 100.

With many medical experts in the Government predicting the UK is nearing a peak in the outbreak, Dr Peter Daw revealed his party’s fear countries would fail to see the bigger picture of the need for international co-operation in action to rightly protect their own citizens.

“Like the climate emergency, this pandemic shows us no country is truly an island in such a situation, whatever our geography,” he said.

“With a US President who seeks to blame international organisations rather than fund or support them, other national leaders, including our own government, need to co-operate to offer direction and channel support to those most in need, wherever they are.




“The Prime Ministers of Denmark and New Zealand, in particular, have shown the way and our government has recently pledged financial support to international efforts, but much more needs to be done.” Dr Daw added.

The respected Labour voice highlighted comments from former Prime Minister Gordon Brown who last week called for a ‘global government’ to tackle both the immediate medical emergency and the ensuing economic one.


“What would this involve? Certainly, in medical terms, it means supplies being sent to the crowded refugee camps in war-torn countries like Syria and Yemen, to Greece and to the Palestinians trapped by the Israeli and Egyptian barricades in Gaza, where any outbreak of Covid-19 would claim countless lives,” Dr Daw said.

“In economic terms, it means ensuring Western-based corporations do not respond to a downturn by cancelling orders and laying off millions of workers in countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia, with little or no unemployment pay or social safety net.

“More boldly, it means cancelling or postponing the massive debt repayments from poorer countries in Africa, Asia and elsewhere to the west, which exacerbate global inequality and prevent such countries emerging from poverty and supporting their citizens.

“The current emergency needs to lead us and our government to apply what we are learning about mutuality and co-operation to international policy, as well as to our own public services and welfare system. Supporting the most vulnerable is ultimately in the interest of us all.”

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