Foreign Aid budget cut

[MellowBird85]

Do you agree with it?

YANBU - Yes it was the right decision to cut it.
YABU - No they should’ve left it alone.

@SerendipityJane

I can't help but remember that saying about being nice to people on the way up, as you may well need them on the way down.

And that's before you consider that quite a lot of aid goes to help countries improve their own industries, which then makes their goods and food cheaper for us to buy.

But then investing in the future is simply so unEnglish as to be almost unheard of. What with the expert knowledge of prices and all that ....

Not to mention there’s a fair amount of soft diplomatic power that comes with giving foreign aid as well as our own security.

This is just a nod to the Tory right to keep them onside. They’ve been trying to do this for a while, Covid just gave them a convenient excuse. It has nothing at all to do with spending money on our own poor.

Disgraceful decision, bowing to the kind of politics that UKIP were about.

Covid is a reason why there should be more overseas aid, and targeted in a better way, not less.

The overseas aid commitment was one of the things I admired the David Cameron coalition for.

Every other prime minister still alive has said this is a mistake, I understand: JOhn Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron and May.

Perhaps the overseas aid targeted in a better way could include, oh I don't know, the development of a vaccine that's actually usable without impractical freezing requirements and that can be produced at low cost.

I agree with pp's about the absurdity of sending aid to countries that can afford nuclear weapons and space development. They need to look after their own people, not be continually enabled to make war on women.

Not to mention there’s a fair amount of soft diplomatic power that comes with giving foreign aid as well as our own security.

Well next time we need a favour from a country that's lost it's aid, it may just take that bit longer. So that's a given.

I’m never sure whether this government are just really clueless about modern global politics and soft power or they just hate it and want to smash our status & reputation to bits.

Maybe we should apply the same logic to people here.
I mean why should someone who's parents can afford to support them financially get jobseekers allowance and such. I mean, families need to look after their own members rather than buy a new car.

I really don't think it should be cut. I think it can be money spent in a very meaningful way. I think the issue is not that we spent it but what it goes on. Still a lot of vulnerable people esp women and girls will pay the price by not being able to access education, contraception etc.

But I disagree in general that it should be cut; my issue is how large junks are spent.

That's not quite the same logic though is it? The same logic would be they shouldn't get jobseeker's allowance to someone who is using it to enslave women to make guns in his basement. Perhaps the UK could fund more research into a vaccine for Ebola next?

I do not agree with the cuts to the aid budget - on top of what has been redirected into a joint fund/operation with MOD and FCO where they could work together eg in post conflict reconstruction but of which MOD took most.
0.5% of a lower UK GDP hits the global south when they are struggling to cope with covid as well as climate change.
Yes there are inefficiencies and some corruption but a lot of work is being done in water and sanitation- in the 21st century it is a travesty that maybe a third of the world population don’t have access to clean drinking water or sanitation- which are both essential to health and one of the most effective ways to improve health (as so many diseases waterborne)
We are repaying a historic debt via development aid having got rich on primary products/raw materials from the global south...

It’s funny how they’re always so quick to cut money that goes to the poorest and the most vulnerable yet they never, ever look at ways of closing the loopholes so that billions doesn’t get squirrelled away in hedge funds. They never make Amazon, Starbucks etc pay their taxes and the likes of Lorraine Kelly can pretend she’s acting to avoid paying her fair share too.

It absolutely makes me hopping mad that people fall for their bullshit.

They never make Amazon, Starbucks etc pay their taxes

Are there any countries in the world that can make Amazon pay its taxes?

@TheFairyCaravan A thousand times this.

The problem is it doesn't go the poorest - it goes to India and China or it goes to ridiculous schemes.

What's the saying? Charity begins at home? We need to sort ourselves out first.

Whilst I understand the theory that “we shouldn’t give aid to countries which don’t look after their own people” I think you’re missing the fact that WE don’t look after our own. Why should I give to food banks when the government could stop allowing massive tax loopholes for the rich and big companies? Why should I fundraise for my local preschool when the government is building HS2? Why would I donate to Captain Tom when MPs just got a pay rise?

Cutting the aid budget doesn’t mean the government will actually care about getting those at the bottom of the pile in the UK in to a better situation. And it’s a drop in the ocean compared to our debt. The good that could be done with that money is vastly more than the good we will see from not giving it.

* Awful decision but the right decision, I think, although it is painful to say so.*

^This in spades. I’ve spent a lot of my life supporting Christian aid work in developing countries and more recently have been working with a friend running a project for Central Asian women.

But here I am saying that I agree with cutting the foreign aid budget. The problem is that we have no say in where that money goes. It’s better to have individuals supporting projects they know about personally. That way, the money is more likely to go where it’s needed.

And yes, with the state our country is in now economically, it definitely is the right decision.

I'm absolutely shocked how many people think this is reasonable. Firstly, from a moral point of view - and let's not forget that ring-fencing foreign aid was part of the Conservative manifesto. Even if this does turn out to be the worst economic crisis for decades, the UK will still be considerably better off than the vast majority of the rest of the world. Developing countries will be bottom of the list for the Covid vaccine, they don't need aid cuts on top of this.

Secondly, as PP pointed out, as the UK government well knows, the UK economy actually benefits from supporting the economies of developing nations, through increased trade and by an increase in "soft" power, which we are in dire need of at the moment. Look at how the Chinese government has put so much money into Africa - so it has power and influence over trade and infrastructure decisions.

Finally, these is completely a political decision rather than an economic one. The government can't continue its relatively tiny contributions to foreign aid but it can afford to spend millions on a festival of Brexit and on laser guns for the military?

Also a shame that the poor countries of the world have to lose out because the government wasted millions on the scandal of PPE procurement.

Absolutely the right decision in my view.

As a percentage of national income, our foreign aid budget is one of the highest in the world, so it isn't like we haven't been doing our bit already.

Regrettable though it is, our economy can no longer sustain this level of benevolence indefinitely. Charity begins at home.

Individuals can of course donate as much of their own personal wealth as they like to make up any perceived shortfall.

@ivfbeenbusy

The problem is it doesn't go the poorest - it goes to India and China or it goes to ridiculous schemes.

What's the saying? Charity begins at home? We need to sort ourselves out first.

Trust me that the bit of foreign aid certainly isn't why there are homeless people in uk...

I'll bookmark this thread. If in a years time homelessness has been eradicated - or fallen, and food banks are gone - or usage reduced, then I'll be a happy bunny.

But I'm going to bet here, and now, that neither of those things will happen.

I don’t have a problem giving aid abroad as long as any corrupt government is sorted first so they actually support their poorest before we do, and we don’t give to countries like India who have space programmes!

I do have problems ms with the amount we are sending abroad to these countries at the moment when we have our own child poverty and a creaking education and health service

Look at how the Chinese government has put so much money into Africa - so it has power and influence over trade and infrastructure decisions

I’m interested about the huge investments China has made in Africa. Is it a good thing especially considering China’s poor human rights record or is it colonialism?

We should have kept it as is...we're the 6th biggest economy on the planet.

We just spaffed 10 billion quid on over priced PPE.

It did need reform though.

Shoulder reduce foreign aid, cut it completely.
Plenty of uk families facing terrible hunger, homeless, poverty etc, funding countries that have space programs is not needed.