Aid: There’s only one way to stop the waste

AS a declaration of intent, the new International Development Secretary’s vow to get a grip on overseas aid is a commendable start.

Indeed, this paper applauds Priti Patel’s determination to end fraud and waste, focus help on those who really need it and distribute British taxpayers’ money in ways that serve our national interest.

Welcome, too, is her ambition to cut migration by promoting peace and creating jobs in poorer countries.

Meanwhile, we are being assured that she will turn off the aid taps to the Eu, which squanders vast fortunes.

But let us not be naive. The truth is that we have heard similar promises from a string of her predecessors. Yet massive sums of our cash are still lavished on crooks and despots – or frittered away on fatuous projects such as teaching the super-rich Chinese to play football or trying to reduce flatulence among Colombian cattle.

At the root of the problem, surely, is the absurd law compelling ministers to spend 0.7 per cent of the nation’s output on aid – money desperately needed at home, where it could be far better spent.

This paper wishes Miss Patel well. But we fear that while this law remains in place, her department will always have more cash than it knows how to spend wisely – no matter how good her intentions.

True, with a majority of only 17, Prime Minister Theresa May has her job cut out to push through Brexit and the return of grammar schools. But isn’t the repeal of the aid law one more battle eminently worth fighting?