British Government heeds the call of millions of campaigners and agrees to 100% debt cancellation for at least 26 countries

After strong campaigning pressure, Gordon Brown, the UK Chancellor has confirmed that Britain will write off one hundred percent of the debts of at least 26 countries. His announcement follows weeks of hard campaigning from debt campaigners for the British government to commit to 100% unilateral cancellation, and will build pressure on other key creditors, in particular Germany, Italy and France to follow suit.

The full details of Mr Brown's initiative will be revealed in a meeting on Tuesday with the churches and key agencies comprising the Jubilee 2000 Coalition. However, there is no doubt that the announcement represents a step forward after the Cologne Debt Initiative agreed in June.

In his interview, given exclusively to the British newspaper, the Guardian, Gordon Brown says that at least 26 countries will now receive 100% debt cancellation by the British Government. Cancellation will come into force after they have completed the current HIPC debt timetable on the condition that countries commit to spending resources generated from debt cancellation on social programmes of poverty alleviation. Gordon Brown said that the first four countries on the list - Uganda, Mozambique, Bolivia and Mauritania - should have qualified for debt forgiveness by the end of January.

Mr Brown told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's obviously only a start to completing this process of debt relief and poverty reduction, but it is the important start that I think everyone is looking for.

"It is no longer a question of people talking about what they are going to do, it is now a question of action."

BBC coverage, including interviews with Gordon Brown, Ann Pettifor, Bob Geldof and Bono.

Jubilee 2000 strongly welcomed the announcement, praising Gordon Brown's "magnanimous gesture," but warning that it was "not yet clear cut" whether the Britain's actions will make a difference and save children's lives.

Ann Pettifor, Director of Jubilee 2000 Coalition said: " On the eve of the new millennium Gordon Brown has responded to the voices of millions of Jubilee 2000 campaigners. This promise reflects his long-term vision and leadership and is another milestone in the campaign to end debt bondage. He must continue to show leadership in the face of resistance from other G7 leaders. Dying children are paying the price of delay."

Former pop star Bob Geldof, a leading campaigner against third world debt, said in an interview on BBC that he was "thrilled" by the decision.

"It's an amazing thing to do, and frankly we will not be remembered for wheels and Domes and fireworks. I think future generations will remember a very simple and confident gesture like this,"" he said.

Oxfam's policy director Justin Forsyth said Britain had "shown the way" on the issue, but had some reservations.

He said: "The fear is that those who were opposed to debt relief like the IMF, like some countries like Japan and Germany, will now make this a very slow and tortuous process. We need to keep the momentum up."

It is clear that the real significance of the announcement will be the pressure it will add on other creditors to follow Gordon Brown's moral lead.

Ann Pettifor said: "It isn't a great deal of money, but it is politically very important, because Canada has already committed to writing off its debt, so has President Clinton on behalf of the United States, now Britain."

"There will be a domino effect. We need to persuade Japan, and France and Germany to do the same and then it will start to make a real difference to those poor countries."

Gordon Brown promised that the announcement would be backed up by pushing his colleagues in the G7 to go further. "We are determined to use whatever energies we can to put pressure on the international community," he said in the Guardian interview.

Gordon Brown's announcement was clearly a response to growing public pressure for further action before Millennium eve. After the G8 Summit in Cologne, Tony Blair agreed that more remained to be done - thousands of supporters agreed with him and sent postcards and letters calling for more action. In September, the British Government was wrong-footed by an announcement by President Clinton that he would cancel 100% of debts owed to the US . His pledge was followed by an extraordinary demonstration when 4000 people formed a human chain around the Treasury on November 11^th, with 50 days to go.

Paul Vallely, writing in the Independent commended the work of Jubilee 2000: "In the early days, a call for unilateral action by individual countries was seen as hopelessly utopian, but thanks to the moral agenda articulated by Jubilee 2000, the ground of the argument has shifted.”

The challenge will now be for the British Government to deepen its commitment by cancelling the debts of more countries, and by agreeing to freeze the collection of debt service payments. Despite the 100% cancellation, under the current plans Britain will still collect money until a country has completed the HIPC process, which for some will be into 2001. Britain will also have to encourage other creditors to advance the process of debt cancellation across the international community in order to get further cancellation of multilateral debts owned jointly by rich creditor governments. Given the urgency of the crisis – 19,000 children a day are dying because of the debt burden - Jubilee 2000 have been calling for an extraordinary G7 summit to take place early in the new year. If Tony Blair would build on the momentum gathering around Gordon Brown's announcement and pressurise his fellow world leaders to meet again, the year 2000 would be a truly historic one.

• BBC coverage, including interviews with Gordon Brown, Ann Pettifor, Bob Geldof and Bono
• Full background briefing on Gordon Brown's announcement