Why should we choose between cutting UK services and cutting aid, while banks – unreformed and undertaxed – continue to report obscene profits?
It can’t have escaped your notice that government spending is under scrutiny. As the coalition government decides how to slash the budget deficit various departments are identifying areas for cuts. As things stand, UK foreign aid is ring-fenced.
The Labour government enshrined in law the need to increase aid from 0.56% to 0.7% of GDP by 2013 something both the Lib Dems and Conservatives have agreed to honour.
But this commitment is coming under pressure. Some sections of the media have started to attack foreign aid spending.
Foreign aid spending has the power to change millions of lives for the better. The true value of foreign aid is measured in new futures not in pounds spent or cut. The current UK aid spending is about 1% of government spending – that’s 1p in every pound. The International Development Secretary – Andrew Mitchell – recently pointed out, UK foreign aid is seriously good value. It currently enables 5 million children to go to primary school worldwide every year – the same number as in the UK but, for just 2.5% of the cost!
Yes, it’s crucial that every penny spent is spent well but, the UK’s commitment to foreign aid is something I’m proud of, and it must be maintained.
