Tim Knox, Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, argues for dropping the 0.7% aid target in a piece of the Daily Telegraph today, 20 April 2017.
“Where half of all people in the developing world were once comdemned to lives of abject poverty, now only one out of every five is…largerly the result of expanding free trade and increased private investment, not of government-financed aid programmes.”
Tim points out that while UK aid spending has a positive impact where it is used correctly, our economic bulletin from January showned the aribtary target leads to wasteful spending in order to meet it. Tim also highlights the “£4 million sent from the UK to North Korea, in the hope of boosting western values and improving relations.”
The snap general election has given all parties the opporutnity to write new manifestos and the Centre for Policy Studies encourages all parties to take this change to re-visit their commitment to the arbitary aid target and scrap it going forward.
Click here to read Tim’s full piece on the Telegraph website (£).
Click here to read about the Centre for Policy Studies other suggestions for bold manifesto promises.
Date Added: Thursday 20th April 2017
