Foreign Aid............

[Guest pelmetman]

I read today that we're second only to the USA for our foreign aid budget? :-S..................

 

But when you read stories like this *-)........

 

Stop wasting aid budget on wealthy countries, ministers told

Ministers told spending on projects including climate change schemes for wealthy countries could undermine public support for overseas aid

 

The The Development Secretary Justine Greening

 

Matthew Holehouse By Matthew Holehouse, Political Correspondent10:00PM GMT 16 Feb 2014 Comments268 Comments

 

Ministers have been ordered to stop squandering British aid on wasteful projects, including climate change schemes in wealthy countries, the Telegraph has learnt.

 

Justine Greening, the development secretary, fears Whitehall departments, in particular the Department for Energy and Climate Change, could undermine public support for overseas aid by funding poorly-run projects in middle-income countries that do not need help from British taxpayers.

 

In a letter seen by the Telegraph, Mrs Greening warns ministers they risk breaching international protocols and face investigation by Britain's aid watchdog if they spend continue to spend money on anything other than relieving extreme poverty in the world’s poorest regions.

 

Mrs Greening fully supports the Government’s target of spending 0.7 per cent of GDP on foreign aid. But the warning that some departments are may be misusing aid will bolster Conservative MPs who want David Cameron to divert some of the £8bn a year aid budget on flood relief in Britain.

 

Mrs Greening’s department, which accounts for the lion’s share of aid spending, has stripped funds from more than a dozen rapidly growing countries and has been swift to shut down programmes that misspent funds. She wants private sector firms such as supermarkets to work with her department to help developing economies come off aid and stand on their own feet.

 

Mrs Greening did not single out any departments in the letter, which was sent to every member of the Cabinet.

However, she is understood to be particularly frustrated at Liberal Democrat Ed Davey's energy and climate change department, which oversees hundreds of millions of pounds of grants designed to help poor and middle-income countries curb their carbon emissions.

 

It recently gave £15m to cattle ranchers in Colombia, the world’s 30th richest country, to help cut flatulence in cows. It has also funded projects in Turkey and Chile, which are enjoying rapid economic growth.

 

 

Maybe its me :-S..................but 15 million seems like a lot of money to stop Colombian cows from farting 8-)..........

 

I thought UKIP was the home for fruitcakes ;-).....................but there's some right nutters running our asylum >:-)...............