4,000 supporters encircled HM Treasury on Thursday 11th November – on the eve of 50 days to the Millennium – and temporarily halted work inside with their deafening noise.

On the same day, at the Europe MTV awards Bono received the coveted `Free Your Mind' award for his tireless support of Jubilee and his commitment to humanitarian causes.

At the Treasury supporters made their presence felt with horns and trumpets, and children from Latin America and Africa offered their money in piggy banks to bemused officials entering and leaving the building. One official actually took a £20 note, then realising what she had done, hurriedly gave it back.

The event was organised to put pressure on Tony Blair to cancel 100% of the debts owed to Britain by the world's poorest countries, as Clinton has done for the US, and to stop collecting £75 million in debt repayments from 1st January 2000.

Ann Pettifor, Director of Jubilee 2000 said: “With a £10 billion budget surplus Britain does not need to collect £75 million from the poorest people on the planet. Everyone here today, along with Bono in Dublin, is saying 'We don't want the money'. The United States has taken a lead by pledging to cancel 100% of the debts owed to the United States and we want Tony Blair to match and go further by unilaterally cancelling 100% and not taking a penny more from the poorest countries from the 1st January 2000."

Supporters wearing Tony Blair masks, designed by coalition partner People and Planet and with banners exclaiming "Cancel 100% now" completely surrounded the Treasury. Watched from the windows by astonished civil servants and officials, they started a procession right round the Treasury, coming to halt to listen to jazz musicians playing Bob Marley's Redemption Song. The event finished with people making their way to Westminster Central Hall to sign the 'People's Millennium Write-down Book.'

Patricia Bond, came down from the north east of England to the demonstration: "It was well worth coming to London today. It was a fantastic day - well planned, well organised and wonderfully noisy! Here's hoping they really heard us this time!"

Supporters calling for unilateral debt cancellation outside the Treasury were strongly backed by parliamentarians. Shortly before the human chain, 50 MPs gathered on College Green with balloons, representing the debt owed to the UK.

However despite all this noise, music and action the government have remained silent on this issue, leaving Jubilee 2000 to conclude that they will continue to take £75 million in debt repayments from the poorest countries every year. In the context of a £9.5 billion budget surplus the British government clearly doesn't need this income, making this silence all the more astonishing. Britain have played an important role gaining joint creditor agreements on debt relief in the international arena, but are failing to take this small unilateral step that could make a huge difference in the poorest countries.

The cost of cancelling the debts owed to Britain by the poorest countries is estimated to be just £2 a taxpayer. If Ghana's debts to Britain were cancelled, the money could be used to double the country's spending on education, or to immunise every single child against the 6 killer diseases.