Wasteful aid spending shouldn’t be spared

Leaked plans to redirect government spending to the foreign aid budget are condemnable, but hardly surprising.

While the coalition government has decided to increase foreign aid spending to 0.7 per cent of national income each year, almost all other departments are having to cut spending by an average of 25 per cent. No wonder civil servants are engaging in “budget juggling”.

In fact, the 0.7% spending target for foreign aid makes no sense: the actual needs of the world’s poorest bears no relation to the size of the UK economy. If the government is serious about development it should abandon arbitrary targets, and appraise each case for aid independently with the interests of those suffering at the fore.

Wasteful spending should be cut in the foreign aid budget, just as it is being in other government budgets.