A former head of MI5 has warned Andy Burnham that the prime minister cannot pit international aid against defence spending – by using cuts in the former to pay for the latter – and should instead take a "holistic" approach.
Lord Jonathan Evans, who was director general of the intelligence agency between 2007 and 2013, was speaking at an event hosted by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London about the decision last year to reduce aid spending from 0.5 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) to 0.3 per cent over the next few years, in order to fund increased defence spending.
