Tory leader David Cameron was in Oxford yesterday urging "faster and further" progress in international development and stamping out global poverty.

During a speech to Oxfam staff and volunteers at Oxford Town Hall he paid tribute to the commitment and leadership of Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown in raising the profile of Third World poverty.

And although he welcomed agreements struck at the G8 summit in Gleneagles last year, Mr Cameron, who studied politics, philosophy and economics at Brasenose College, Oxford, added: "We should do justice to the progress made last year by strengthening those early faltering steps by going further and faster.

"And by resolving that whatever the ups and downs of our domestic politics, Britain will seek always to be in the lead in the great struggle to rid the world of poverty."

Witney MP Mr Cameron also said aid vouchers given to the world's poorest communities could be traded with aid organisations, who would then redeem them for cash.

He said there was a "moral imperative" to help lift nations out of poverty and added: "I don't believe it is either morally acceptable or politically sensible to limit our ambitions to improving the well-being of our citizens."

He promised that a Conservative government would increase aid spending, working towards the target of 0.7 per cent of national income to be spent in that way by 2013.

He said: "And every year between now and then we should look to see if it is desirable, and possible, to go further and faster. I believe we can be more innovative still in our approach.

"One idea we will investigate based on our belief in trusting people - and our instinctive dislike of top-down solutions - is aid vouchers.

"For the first time, poor people themselves would be the masters, and aid agencies would have a direct and clear incentive to deliver effective services," he said.

"Such an innovation would help show us what the poor really want - and who is most effective in meeting their needs."

Charles Abugre, Christian Aid's head of policy, said: "To have the two main UK political parties agreeing that we should give 0.7 per cent of our national wealth in aid is a ringing endorsement of the hard campaigning of all the people who support the anti-poverty movement.

"But we do need to see and hear more on the specific policies and, in particular, on trade justice."