Is Britain paying too much in overseas aid?

MOST people think the £14.5 billion spent on overseas aid is far too much. It also seems a significant amount is wasted on crackpot schemes just to spend the money. David Cameron pledged that the UK would meet the UN’s 0.7 per cent of GDP Overseas Development Assistance target, but surely this should be changed. How can it make sense to cut our own services and plead austerity, yet spend £14.5 billion of taxpayers’ money on overseas schemes that can be impossible to monitor?

MIKE CATTERALL, Accrington, Lancs.

APART from helping the vulnerable, our overseas aid is used to enable poor countries to become self-sufficient. Thus, we become established allies and their ability to trade internationally is enhanced. Britain works with other providers on many projects, as I have experienced in Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Egypt and Tunisia, with teams from the U.S. and the EU. Britain’s defence spending is more than three times the amount spent on overseas aid. I know which budget I believe contributes more to world peace.

MERVYN WILLIAMS, Huddersfield, W. Yorks.

WE SHOULD reduce our overseas contributions to 0.5 per cent of GDP, the EU average, and use the £2 billion a year saving to help end the austerity cuts that are affecting Britain. However, the 0.7 per cent figure was enshrined in law. As a result, it appears that it can only be amended by law, not by a decision by the government of the day.

JAMES WIGNALL, Accrington, Lancs. EVERY household pays £535 towards the foreign aid budget (Mail). How can I opt out? PETER BRYANT, Salisbury, Wilts.