Letters | 10 January 2013

The aid argument

Sir: ‘The great aid mystery’ (5 January) presents the development sceptics’ case — which in five years in opposition (2005-2010) the Conservative party set out to address head on.

Although the huge changes in British development policy over the last two and half years appear to have eluded Messrs Foreman and Shaw, they are real and fundamental and genuinely provide grounds upon which most people on either side of the debate can camp. I learned in two-and-a-half years as Britain’s Development Secretary that both the extremes in this debate have deaf ears.

The coalition government has reduced the number of aid recipient countries supported by Britain from 43 to 28. We demanded results as the only justification for handing over hard-pressed British taxpayers’ cash. We set up the independent — and often uncomfortable for government — evaluation of British aid. To call this ‘PR flim flam’ reveals an unusual lack of journalistic objectivity.