OVERSEAS AID

That this House notes the pledge by the honourable Member for Manchester, Eccles, made at a recent meeting of Afro-Caribbean and Asian representatives in Peterborough, that the Labour Party would increase funding for overseas aid by nearly three times the current budget to 0.7 per cent. of gross national product; acknowledges that currently, at over ú2 billion per annum, Britain has the fifth largest aid programme; and, since the additional cost of this pledge for taxpayers would be over ú3 billion per annum, asks which taxes would be raised or imposed to pay for it.