Oxfam welcomed today’s vote by European Parliamentarians in support of a strong European Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) covering all instruments (shares, bonds and derivatives), as put forward by

Millions of poor people will go without life-saving food and medicines as donor aid pledges to poor countries are breached.

After another year of extreme weather, developing countries face a looming climate ‘fiscal cliff’ at the end of 2012. Yet new Oxfam research finds most climate finance pledges so far have been recycled funds or loans.

Hundreds of thousands of poor people will go without life-saving medicines and many more children will miss out on school because of the first cuts in aid since 1997, Oxfam warned today.

“Food, funds, inequality” issues will test G20 leaders’ ability to transform the global economy. The 2011 G20 Summit could be a watershed for global stability and prosperity if leaders rise above a narrow vision of self-interest and act decisively for the world’s poorest citizens.

At the most recent UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico in December 2010, governments saved the global climate negotiations from collapse.

A European tax on financial transactions would be fair, practical and popular and could raise as much as €210 billion to tackle poverty and climate change, according to Oxfam's new report.

A poll commissioned by Oxfam and carried out in six European countries found a majority of people in the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy all support a Robin Hood Tax.

The European Parliament today adopted a report advocating the EU press ahead with the introduction of a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) on a unilateral basis to raise money for public goods.

The world’s leading economies must act now to stop the price of basic foods from surging further out of the reach of poor people. They must also commit to a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) to help millions of people hit by the economic crisis and climate change.