The figures show just how mean this foreign aid cut is | Letters

Readers respond to the Conservative party's plan to slash 4bn from the overseas aid budget

The decision by the government to cut the overseas aid budget from 0.7% to 0.5% of gross national income to save 4bn annually is truly shocking, particularly as the underdevelopment and poverty in many parts of Africa and Asia are partly the legacy of colonialism (Outrage aimed at No 10 as MPs back 4bn cut to foreign aid budget, 13 July). Let's get the figures in perspective. Borrowing 4bn (instead of cutting aid) would increase the current UK national debt of approximately 2tn by just 0.2%. The damage to the public finances would be negligible. At an interest rate of 1%, the cost of borrowing would be approximately 40m annually to save an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 lives. The cost per person saved would therefore be between 200 and 400 - a trivial sum to put on the value of a life. The interest cost to the UK adult population would be less than 1 per head per annum. If the British people knew the facts, the meanness and pettiness of the government would appal them.
Tony Thirlwall
Emeritus professor of applied economics, University of Kent

Steve Baker MP was front-page news in Wednesday's Guardian print edition for his warning to Conservative colleagues that their culture war against taking the knee might be misunderstood as opposition to the principle that Black lives matter (Tory MP says party must change attitude towards taking the knee, 13 July). He was also one of the 332 Tory MPs (and one independent) who voted in support of the cut to foreign aid on Tuesday, also reported on your front page. All of these MPs voted to condemn thousands of actual Black lives for the sake of 0.2% of gross national income, and as such appear to have made their position, and that of their party, abundantly clear.
Mat Kinton
Nottingham