ABSTRACT
Aid has low priority for the present British government, which has taken few initiatives apart from cutting it. Given the many negative effects of aid as it is now practised, this is perhaps not a bad thing. There is some inconsistency among the critics of aid, who both condemn aid for its negative effects and condemn the government for not spending more (for further discussion, see Proposals, page 224). However, the fact is that British aid is declining as a proportion of national income. The government’s reasons for cutting it are unlikely to have anything to do with any perceived negative effects on the environment or the poor. They are to be explained more by its lack of conviction that aid serves Britain’s economic and foreign policy objectives, possibly by its aversion to public subsidies to British industry but, above all, by its desire to reduce public expenditure.
