Britain could steer a global vaccination programme – but where is the leadership? | Emily Thornberry

In the absence of proposals from the government, we have a plan to ensure the world is safe now and secure in the future

• Emily Thornberry is the shadow secretary of state for international trade

We are 140 days into what Boris Johnson has proudly called the year of British leadership". But looking at this government from the outside, you would never know it. Where is the British leadership over the conflict in Israel and Palestine, over the Chinese genocide against the Uyghurs, or over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Yemen? And what claim to global leadership can this government make while taking an axe to vital education, health and climate crisis programmes across the developing world?

But there is one area where global leadership is required more urgently than any other, and where it is currently nowhere to be found from Johnson's government: the international fight against Covid-19. The humanitarian crisis in India highlights the alarming and growing gulf between countries such as ours, where more than half of the population have had their first jab, and many countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean where vaccination programmes have barely begun.