CAFOD says UK foreign aid budget should not be cut

British Defence Secretary Liam Fox is challenging plans to commit to spend billions of pounds more on overseas aid, according to a leaked letter published on Tuesday. In a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron carried by The Times newspaper, Fox said he disagreed with coalition plans to put into law a promise to increase foreign aid to 0.7 percent of Britain's national income by 2013, up from just over 0.5 percent in 2009.

“I think we have to beware of false choices,” said Amy Pollard, lead aid analyst for CAFOD, the British Catholic aid agency. “I’m not sure its true that either you spend money on aid, or you spend money at home…I think we have to show are moral fibre here, really, and stand by poor people when things are most difficult for them, as well as for us.”

She told Vatican Radio the developing world should not be punished for the mistakes made by the financial industry in the rich world.

“The last people who are responsible for the financial crisis are poor and vulnerable people living in developing countries,” she said. “And they are the last people who should have to pay for the mistakes that have been made and led us into this situation.”

Listen to the full interview by John Kelly with Amy Pollard: