David Cameron will today slap down critics within his own party who have questioned his decision to pour billions more into foreign aid at a time of austerity.
The Prime Minister will mount a passionate defence of his policy in a speech.
Yesterday he said Britain had a ‘moral’ duty to ‘step up’ and help the world’s poorest.
Many Tories are furious at the decision to increase aid spending by 34 per cent to more than £12billion while most public services are facing steep cuts.
But Mr Cameron said it would be wrong to ‘turn inwards solely to our own problems and effectively balance our books while breaking our promises to the world’s poorest’.
He acknowledged that the policy was ‘controversial’ but said the public should be ‘proud’ of its spending on aid.
Mr Cameron added, however: ‘We have to make sure we get value for our money. In the past too much aid has been badly spent. It is right to be angry about that. But it is wrong to think the way to respond is to walk away from aid altogether.
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