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MP Kawczynski backs rethink on overseas aid
Tuesday 6th July 2010, 10:28AM BST.
Daniel Kawczynski MP
Shrewsbury’s MP today backed Government plans to ring-fence the country’s international development budget and called for a “reorganisation” of where aid goes to ensure that countries with the biggest need get support.
Daniel Kawczynski said it was “vital” Britain continued to help the poorest countries, but he questioned why it helped others, India in particular.
The UK, he said, could not continue to give countries such as India hundreds of millions of pounds in assistance, as India was spending money on expensive projects such as a space programme.
He questioned why such aid should be provided to a country that can afford “luxury” programmes, such as ones for space and new aircraft carriers, when Britain could not afford its own.
And he said such money should be spent instead on the health and education of the people of India.
He said: “I respect the fact that the Government has ring -fenced the international development budget.
“It is vital that Britain continues to help the poorest countries in the world. However, given the extraordinary black hole in our nation’s finances, we cannot continue to give India the amounts of aid we do.”
He said: “In 2008, we gave India, a country that had 246,603 million US dollars in foreign exchange reserves, over £600 million in assistance.
“Yet its government decided to spend more than this on pursuing its space programme.
“We cannot afford to pursue a space programme, so why should we fund India where its government can?
“India has also placed an order for new aircraft carriers costing billions of dollars, showing again it is happy to spend money on ‘luxury’ programmes, while neglecting essential projects to improve the health and education of its people.”
Mr Kawczynski added: “I’d like a reorganisation of which countries get our aid.
“Haiti, for example, I believe receives very little money from the UK government and yet has been devastated by an earthquake.”
By John Kirk
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Totally agree.
I live and work in a “developing Country”. Little ol’ UK until recently was paying money to this place as foreign aid. I look around today and see Porshe, Benz and other classy cars all over the place. Yet I also see abject poverty.
The UK cannot afford to keep itself going for God sake! Massive cuts planned in local services. Yet paying money to support places richer and more productive than Britain. This is crazy.
Sure UK should help “really needy” places. But these are certainly not India or China. Give one penny today, they will expect one pound tomorrow. Also, in many “developing Countries” there are even “schools” where one can go to learn how to screw the British immigration and University systems to get placement and UK Government financial support. Because they know UK is an easy touch.
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This comes from the MP who complained about the noise from the Chinook helicopters flying out of RAF Shawbury the other week. Did someone forget to remind him that it was he who backed the training of pilots at the base and he who said that it was great to see shropshire in the for front of trianing for the armed forces… Then he moans because he cant sleep….
tut tut Daniel.
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Foreign aid is unfortunately a scam. Ok, so it makes good headlines giving money to a poor nation. Yet when that cash arrives in the Swiss bank accounts of many a dictator, or buys gold mines or mineral rights for our wealthy elite, it should be stopped. In all cases of foreign aid, only the wealthy benefit, because us taxpayers do not and the poorest certainly do not.
India is a disgraceful waste of foreign aid. Compare the vast sums that Indian billionaires spend on cricket, with the number of highly populated slums in major cities. It is completely immoral. The Tories have sad that we should stop giving money to China, so why is Kawczynski not adding them to the list? They should not get a penny. By giving India and China vast sums of money, we are paying to have our jobs replaced by cheap labour. As our unemployment keeps rising, we can all be safe in the knowledge that Kawczynski’s view is that foreign aid is of paramount importance. This is Britain, courtesy of the Lib-Lab-Con alliance.
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Mr Kawczynski is loyally – possibly slavishly? – following the line of his party leaders, and I suppose he can’t be criticised for that.
But it is absolutely ridiculous that when other areas of spending in *this* country are facing cuts of 25% or more – and when people are hurting over those cuts as a result – that we are ringfencing the overseas aid budget.
In most cases, the Government of the day never even establishes whether the money paid out even goes to those who really need it!
If Mr Kawczynski thought about this rationally, I’m sure he’d change his tune. Because sooner or later it’s issues like this which will cause the coalition to destruct…
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Just an afterthought, but at least Mr Kawczynski recognises that the money isn’t targeted properly, but precisely how they’d go about doing this isn’t mentioned. I may be an impossible task.
Which is why they probably should cut the aid anyway.
Funnily enough, the Republic of Ireland have taken the same decision to protect overseas aid from austerity measures, and their economy crash-landed even more heavily than the UK’s did! Makes you wonder if politicans are on the same planet as the rest of us eh?
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