Aid no ‘mistake’

While Oxfam welcomes the support of Peter Jones (Perspective, 20 December) for the principal of a new financial transaction tax (FTT), we reject his call for all of the funds raised by such a tax to be spent by “national governments for national purposes”.

Oxfam has been campaigning for an FTT since 2009, calling it the Robin Hood Tax (RHT). As the name suggests, we believe the money raised – we calculate the UK’s potential share at about £20 billion – should be spent on helping and supporting the world’s poorest and those who have suffered most from, as Mr Jones puts it: “the disaster bankers have inflicted on us”.

While he is right to question the notion that the proposed levy could shore up European Union coffers, he is wrong to suggest spending the revenues on the world’s poorest countries is in any way a “mistake”.

Under a RHT some 50 per cent of the money raised would be spent to help those living in poverty in the UK. But a further 25 per cent would be spent on development projects in poor countries, with the remainder used to help those at the sharp end of climate change adapt their lives and livelihoods.

In short, the financial sector that caused this crisis would be helping to support some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world. Few would suggest that’s a “mistake”.

Jamie Livingstone

Campaigns manager

Oxfam Scotland