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.

Do people here know it doesn't go just to India and China, yeah?

Interesting that the voting is currently 75% in favour of cutting the foreign aid budget, yet most of the comments are anti. The silent majority...

@Dongdingdong

Interesting that the voting is currently 75% in favour of cutting the foreign aid budget, yet most of the comments are anti. The silent majority...

I am hoping that that is because people mistakenly clicked on yanbu thinking it's what yabu is

Pretty sickening to see the UK, having relied utterly on foreign aid to survive the 1940's, pull up the drawbridge to save mere pennies by comparison. Tory's for you though. Hell-bent on convincing people of the need for an ideological austerity to tackle a debt that is a pittance compared to the original, long-term national debt that they were showing no inclination on dealing with anyway. Disgraceful that these charlatans will use this pandemic as an excuse to cut services even further, and make sure it's everyone but the filthy rich, disaster capitalists, and Tory benefactors who feel the consequences.

YABU

'Charity begins at home' yes we are facing incredibly challenging times here but let's not pretend it will be anything like the issues faced by LMICs. And let's not forget that political choices are the reason things are the way they are here. It took a 23 year old footballer to shame the government to back down on school meals.

We absolutely have a responsibility to the poorest to help and now more so than ever. If there are issues with corruption in the way aid is delivered then reform it and sort out the problems. Don't cut the money FFS.

I think a measure of just how disgusting this is, is the number of Tories who are prepared to openly condemn the government for this. Liz Sugg resigned. Andrew Mitchell's comments:

the decision “will be the cause of 100,000 preventable deaths, mainly among children.

"This is a choice I for one am not prepared to make and none of us in this House will be able to look our children in the eye and claim we did not know what we were voting for,” he added.

I just checked the country by country comparisons both as gross figures and as percentages of GDI. Even at the new figures we would be fairly high on the tables and much higher than places such as Canada and Australia which have a lot less of the social issues and poverty seen in the U.K.

People naively thinking that the government could channel that money into tackling inequality and poverty in the UK whilst forgetting it was just a matter of weeks ago the government had to be bullied by a footballer to feed children during school holidays.

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

As if this government will spend a single penny saved by cutting aid on poverty, hunger, and homelessness in the UK.

This place makes me laugh sometimes, and not in a good way.

@Whammyyammy

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.

Fucking stupidity.

Two completely separate issues. It's a disgrace that people live in poverty in this country and its a disgrace that people here think it's acceptable to abandon the poorest and most disadvantaged people, mainly children, in the world. Any idiot who thinks this is acceptable, remember it's just an accident of birth that you happened to be born in the UK as opposed to a LMIC.

It's not a choice between one or the other. At least in any decent society it wouldn't be.

@Andante57

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?

A united Africa is not a great proposition for a lot of the world (but would help Africa enormously). It's why the US has spent decades ensuring it doesn't happen (with the UKs assistance when needed).

China has - as is their way - very slowly been working across Africa to bring about a pan-African bloc. Which will be able to start charging market value for it's exports. Especially minerals.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%E2%80%93South_Africa_relations

globalriskinsights.com/2020/02/chinas-international-partnerships-pan-african-cooperation/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_Africa

www.great-man-made-river.algaddafi.org/great-man-made-river-gmmr--facts-figures

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man-Made_River

In simple terms I believe Foreign Aid should continue. However I do not know enough about it and I blindly assume it is going to the right places to help the right people. After reading some of these comments maybe instead of it being cut it should be audited to make sure it is used in the right way, but then that in itself will cost money so I just don’t know 🤷‍♀️

As the economy reduces foreign aid reduces because its a measure of gdp.

Less foreign aid means we'll end up spending more on defence than we save in foreign aid and have less soft power. This means less standing and influence at a time when we never needed it more because of brexit.

Another simplistic populist decision about a complex issue.

It is the right decision to cut foreign aid at the moment, Our small country cannot afford such huge outlays now. It doesn't mean this country has stopped caring about others, but the big money for foreign aid is not doable now at this time.

And not helping poorer countries will also make managing covid more difficult because it will be circulating at unmanageable levels in those countries. Then its likely to just ignite again.

Even if you don't care about the plight of others, foreign aid has a strategic economic benefit.

1forAll74

We can't afford not to. This will have an economic detrimental effect on up for the sake of 0.2% of GDP.

@SchrodingersImmigrant

Do people here know it doesn't go just to India and China, yeah?

One of the biggest recipients is Pakistan, also in ownership of nuclear weapons. Another is Ethiopia, currently in an armed dispute I know not the history of with Tigray. The others of the big 5 are not surprisingly Syria, Afghanistan and Nigeria. From Full fact.

The point about water sanitation was well made. I do think a bit more discernment is appropriate in Asia though.

*we can't afford to not give foreign aid

Can't it be reinstated at a later date?

I think it's fair enough at the moment

Foreign aid often isn't spent well and doesn't end up going where it's needed. Sorry to be cynical.

@1forAll74

It is the right decision to cut foreign aid at the moment, Our small country cannot afford such huge outlays now. It doesn't mean this country has stopped caring about others, but the big money for foreign aid is not doable now at this time.

Oh I forgot that the wealth of a country was linked to its square mileage

Fucking stupid.

@Thickhead

Foreign aid often isn't spent well and doesn't end up going where it's needed. Sorry to be cynical.

Nor are my taxes and I can't even vote for it. Nor is actually anything, ever. Nothing is ever perfect. See the recent PPE example. See any major project. Hospital builds. Railway... That's absolutely how this "extra money to take care of our own" will end up btw. I agree with pps, it should be audited heavier.

It doesn't go to governments in some case already, but it is spent through enterprises.

It will come back to bite this country in a backside.

@Blackberrycream

I just checked the country by country comparisons both as gross figures and as percentages of GDI. Even at the new figures we would be fairly high on the tables and much higher than places such as Canada and Australia which have a lot less of the social issues and poverty seen in the U.K.

That’s an interesting point.

Also...”soft diplomatic power”. So bribes basically then?

Yes they should cut it, millions of people in this country are now in poverty thanks to this government. Charity in this case begins at home.

Also...”soft diplomatic power”. So bribes basically then?

Erm no?

Peace building and equitable partnerships, joint research projects and shared knowledge being just a few examples of soft diplomatic power?

Of course a country with a general public who are so insular, thick and incapable of seeing the bigger picture won't put a value on such things.

@oneglassandpuzzled

ANdrew Mitchell was very eloquent on the subject of why it should not be cut. "The effect is that probably we will have 100,000 avoidable deaths; 7.6 million women and girls will not get access to contraception - which we have previously promised, and we'll probably take one million girls out of school."

I can't see how anyone can justify this. It's in our own interest to boost the rights of women across the world. Societies where women are encouraged to do more than reproduce tend to be places where we can sell goods and services to. They are more stable societies, less likely to foster extremism. And a time when we need all the soft power we can drum up.

Why is this the UK job? What about the woman in this country trapped in a violent house because there is no where else to go?