Today there was a debate on ITV’s Good Morning Britain about whether the UK’s aid budget should be diverted to spend on domestic issues such as strengthening flood defences.
Dr Adam Elliott-Cooper from the University of Oxford and Suzanne Evans, former deputy chair of UKIP discussed the issue on air.
The academic argued our aid budget helps the UK to maintain diplomatic relations and that there is an “economic imperative”, not just a moral one, for our aid spend. He went on to say that money used for aid does not divert funds from flood defences in the UK.
Suzanne Evans presented the opposite side of the debate, arguing the aid budget should be reduced and this extra money should be spent on domestic issues.
The UK Government’s position is clear, and was carried on the programme.
We do not need to make a choice between tackling extreme poverty across the globe and investing in flood defences at home. We are doing both.
DFID works with departments across the whole of government to make sure UK aid is tackling global challenges that affect us in Britain as well, including climate change.
The UK Government is already investing £2.6 billion in more than 1,000 flood schemes across the UK and recently announced support for individuals whose homes and businesses were affected by the recent storms.
Since 2015, 200,000 homes have been protected and over 600 flood defence schemes have been completed.
As set out in the Government’s manifesto, the UK has pledged £4 billion in new funding for flood defences over the next five years.
The UK Government has activated the emergency Bellwin scheme to provide financial support to qualifying affected areas and we’re continuing to work closely with councils to ensure that affected communities and businesses can recover as quickly as possible.
1 comment
Comment by Paride Abalu Henry posted on
We believed that we should not been concentration on home but we need to look wider and find out because the world is really In need of support we understand that humanity first but we should also focused on Charity kind of activities you know children are the most affected and women in a poor country like Africa we understand that we released and things will not only be for UK but also for the world in Africa children are not Accessible schools due to their not even their and some you need to move cross borders to get education with we really need to help in humanitarian sector and charity category in works if you look at health sector you look their some disease that you find cause by continues famine and drought make more needy but if you look widely is really UK that support really Africa through it's Charity Partners that aim to help humanity Across the world I things we need to address famine and support Charity partners to help this Children have access to Education and health Facilities in the world Specially in Africa means we need to developed visionary method that look widely Across the worlds
Regards