WE have just been told of more spending cuts that will come in after the next election.

A lot of people are hurting and it is a natural reaction for them to be angry that foreign aid is to be spared the cuts.

I want to try to put the case for why we need to give all we can to developing countries, because we owe them a greater debt than we can ever pay.

In the past our country, along with others, have made ourselves prosperous at the expense of these poor countries.

We have gone there, taken over their land, set up tea and sugar plantations, paid the locals next to nothing and could not get this produce back quick enough, hence the clipper ships like the Cutty Sark.

We have mined their land for rich minerals and paid these counties no tax for these exploits and, at the same time, have polluted their rivers with the residue.

The present government may feel the need to support poor countries to avoid them taken over by militant forces, but the real need is to try to pay back the great debt we owe them from the past and help them to be self-supporting.

This is an uphill struggle because it is the rich countries that set the rules for world trade which protects them at the expense of the poor.

A huge amount of money is owed to this country by rich people among us who have it stacked safely away in tax havens, while lower income people pay every penny they earn.

GEORGE GINN

King’s Parade

Soham