While York and other areas in Britain drown in the tide of floodwater that has devastated swathes of the North, scenes of misery across Yorkshire and Lancashire triggered outrage last night over Britain sqaundering cash on the UK Foreign Aid. Residents asked why they had been told there was no money for local flood defences when £12billion a year is spent on overseas aid – including, it emerged yesterday, £1billion to the 20 most corrupt nations.
Beneficiaries include war-torn countries such as Somalia and Sudan, where terror groups are reported to ‘tax’ aid payments, and even North Korea, where the erratic Kim Jong-un rules with an iron fist.
The revelations will raise fresh concerns about David Cameron’s drive to spend 0.7 per cent of Britain’s income on aid.
Tory MP Philip Davies described the spending as a ‘colossal waste of money’ and warned that voters would not understand why their money was being spent to prop up corrupt regimes.
‘It is completely unacceptable,’ he sa
id. ‘We should not be giving money to countries who have not got their houses in order.
‘This is exactly why you hear people saying that foreign aid is taking money from poor people in rich countries and giving it to rich people in poor countries – you might as well stick a Mercedes catalogue in the envelope.’
Andy Silvester, a campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Every penny of foreign aid has to be spent on those who really need it, not to line the pockets of corrupt officials in questionable regimes. It’s simply mind-boggling that we’re dishing out aid to countries like North Korea when our own finances are in such a terrible state.’
