Daily Mail leader: "Miss Greening is an aid sceptic – believing the country has a duty to achieve more from its aid budget while spending less. There is every reason to hope she will recognise the madness of the plan to enshrine in law Mr Cameron’s aid commitment and kill the idea stone dead."
Express leader: "Ms Greening was moved to the aid portfolio primarily to get her out of the Department for Transport because of her opposition to a third runway at Heathrow Airport. But if someone who puts the national interest above political vanity has taken the reins at the Department for International Development then the British public will breathe a huge sigh of relief."
The Sun Says: "Downing Street is flying in the face of public opinion by setting in stone an annual aid handout of £12billion. We are not a mean country. We have a proud history of generosity to the suffering. But when Brits are struggling so badly at home, why are we sending fortunes to booming nations like India — rich enough to have its own space industry? It is arrogance for No10 to ignore the views of the nation."
...but the FT (£) pours cold water on the idea of a change to policy: "Downing Street has insisted it will stand by its commitment to raise international aid to 0.7 per cent of British output by next year, despite concerns that the new development secretary could back away from the policy."
My view: It sounds like this could have been one of the best moves of the reshuffle. I've lost count of the number people that have expressed concern to me about the amount of overseas aid that is spent by the Government when so much needs doing here at home to put right the mess the Government inherited. I believe that if the Government focusses its attention on repairing the damage to our economy, imbedding solid growth and getting people back to work and less reliant on state support our nation will have a far stronger base from which to be a force for good in the world!
No comments:
Post a Comment