Overseas aid is urgent

I understand that he and many others feel that there is need in this country and that we should not be giving aid to those overseas whilst this is the case.

Mr Morton seems to be of the opinion that our government hands over aid to corrupt regimes to do with as they will. As far as I know this is not the case, or I sincerely hope not. I trust and believe that the spending of this aid is closely managed by our aid agencies to ensure that every penny is well spent.

Many people are aware that much is being said about tax dodging by big multinational companies and how the UK is losing millions every year to this. Well done Ed Miliband and others for speaking out about this.

What may shock Mr Morton and your readers, as it did me is that these same companies, some of them British, operate in the developing world and practice the same tax dodging so that these poor countries lose THREE TIMES the amount in tax as they receive in aid.

Add this to the fact that British companies have been involved in land grabs, where much needed land in Africa has been used to grow crops for biofuels to feed our cars instead of crops to feed the hungry and tell me again that we should withdraw overseas aid.

Pauline Howarth, Fairways, Wickersley.