One of the things we can be most proud of is that we ensured that this country was committed in law to providing 0.7% of GDP in foreign aid to provide things like food, humanitarian aid, water, schooling and protection for women and girls at risk of abuse to the poorest places on the planet.
Now it seems that the Brexiteers in government plan to divert some of that money to EU countries to advance our position in the Brexit negotiations. That doesn’t strike us as being what it’s for.
Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson Tom Brake has called the plans a disgrace:
It is a disgrace this government is considering taking money away from the world’s poorest countries in a desperate attempt to claw back support in Europe.
This is a sign of how weak their current negotiating position is.
The Liberal Democrats are proud to have enshrined the 0.7% aid target into law.
Britain’s commitment to helping the poor and vulnerable should not be sacrificed on the altar of a hard Brexit.
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3 Comments
Should not be sacrificed at the alter of hard Brexit! Of cause it will be sacrificed at the alter, its what Tories do, bit naive to think they’d do anything else.
“… to provide things like food, humanitarian aid, water, schooling and protection for women and girls at risk of abuse to the poorest places on the planet …”
You don’t think that’s the real reason for “foreign aid”, surely? Yes, some gets spent in that way to keep the public sweet, but its main purpose is to bribe governments, buy influence and maintain the status quo in areas where we have an interest. At the end of the day, it’s better to keep a dictator in some tinpot African state happy with a gold plated Rolls (or whatever he wants) than to have him killing his own or (worse) going off on some tribal spat with his neighbours and costing us far more in the long run through peacekeeping missions or military intervention.
I hadn’t realised this, use what influence and campaigning power that we have to highlight the problem, and make sure the overseas aid is used in the way good Liberal Democrats meant it to be when supporting the amount being enshrined in law.