The British government’s spending on foreign aid is more than double the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average, thanks to legislation passed under David Cameron.
The former prime minister, who was ousted following his defeat as de facto leader of the Remain campaign during Britain’s referendum on European Union membership, stewarded laws requiring the British government to spend a sum equivalent to 0.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on foreign aid, in an effort to win over left-liberal commentators and voters.
France, by contrast, spends just 0.38 per cent of GDP on foreign aid; Italy gives just 0.28 per cent, and Australia a mere 0.27 per cent.
New figures released by the OECD, which brings together some 35 advanced economies, show an average foreign aid spend of 0.32 per cent GDP — less than half the British allocation.
With the National Health Service (NHS) facing a winter crisis, massive shortfalls in funding for social care for the elderly, and huge cuts to the British armed forced looming, the foreign aid budget has grown increasingly controversial in recent years.
Not only is the government now legally obliged to meet the 0.7 per cent of GDP target by an Act of Parliament, it has tied its own hands by signing up to certain inflexible, arbitrary rules — which meant that the foreign aid budget could not be used to assist the British Virgin Islands after they were devastated by Hurricane Irma, among other unintended consequences.
Nor have the beneficiaries of the foreign aid budget been without controversy: Breitbart London has previously reported how almost £1 million a day from it is spent on asylum seekers and illegal immigrants in Britain, even as establishment politicians determinedly refuse to subtract money from it to support British nationals or public services.
Breitbart London has also reported on an investigation which suggested British foreign aid was being used to fund jihadists in the Middle East, provide members of the Communist regime in North Korea with English lessons and business workshops, and even support executions in Pakistan, among many other scandals.
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