Government ‘overran foreign aid budget by £1bn due to money spent on asylum seekers’

Uncategorized

Ministers have cut their own limit on foreign aid spending by £1bn because so much money is being plowed into helping asylum seekers in the UK, it emerged today.

Foreign aid spending is currently capped at 0.5 per cent of GDP – some £11bn – after Rishi Sunak cut the 0.7 per cent when he was chancellor.

But money spent on housing Channel migrants, plus refugees from Ukraine and Afghanistan, means spending will amount to 0.55 percent of GDP this year, the BBC reported.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), which manages the foreign aid budget, has been forced to accept the additional costs from the Home Office.

Last month it was revealed that the UK is now spending more of its international development budget domestically than in poor developing countries, due to refugee housing costs.

It came as Rishi Sunak today refused to guarantee that the number of migrants from the Channel will drop, despite the UK handing over £63 million a year under a new deal.

The prime minister evaded any hard promise when he praised “progress” with Interior Secretary Suella Braverman signing a pact that will see a 40 percent increase in the number of officers patrolling the beaches.

Money spent on housing Channel migrants, plus refugees from Ukraine and Afghanistan, means spending will amount to 0.55 percent of GDP this year, the BBC reported.

British personnel will also be embedded in French control rooms for the first time after the number of people making the perilous journey to the UK has surpassed 40,000 so far this year.

Further measures signed in Paris include an investment in CCTV and dog detection teams to monitor ports and plans to equip officers with drones and night vision goggles.

Meanwhile, Britain and France have agreed to step up cooperation with European partners in this area, with a meeting of the ‘Calais Group’ of neighboring countries being planned as soon as possible.

However, despite the extra money, there will be no joint patrols between French and British officers after Paris apparently vetoed the idea. And no targets are set to reduce flows across the border.

Campaigners and border experts said the agreement fails to address the real “problems” and that French authorities will “just let them go and try again.” Labor accused the government of throwing ‘red meat’ at people alarmed about immigration, saying it was ‘too little too late’.

The UK aid budget is around £11bn, with around £4bn going to multilateral institutions including the World Bank.

Of the remaining £7bn, which is directly managed by the UK, more than half will be spent domestically this year, including around £3bn on refugee housing, according to CGD’s analysis.

While internationally agreed rules allow the UK to count the cost of hosting refugees as Official Development Assistance (ODA), it is one of the few countries – and the only one in the G7 – to fund all the costs of Ukrainian refugees from its country. existing aid budget, said the think tank The Center for Global Development (CGD).

In a statement, the Treasury Department said: “Across the government, the ODA budget is under significant pressure due to the cost of accepting refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine, as well as broader migration challenges.

“We remain one of the largest donors of global aid, with over £11bn in aid in 2021, and UK aid has recently gone to those in need in the Horn of Africa and Pakistan.”

One of the key Tory MPs who last year rebelled against Mr Sunak’s austerity, Andrew Mitchell, was appointed by the Prime Minister as Development Secretary in the Foreign Office last month.

The appointment was seen as important because Mr Mitchell, a former secretary for international development, could increase pressure on Mr Sunak to fulfill his pledge to return to 0.7 per cent international aid spending by 2024-2025.

However, the Prime Minister is considering freezing the budget for another two years – saving £4bn a year – as he looks for ways to close a multibillion-pound fiscal black hole in Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement.

The UK government today said it would contribute £1bn to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, more than six weeks after other countries made their pledges.

The total, which covers the period 2023-25, is 30 per cent less than Britain pledged in the previous funding round in 2019, and less than the £1.8 billion requested.

Historically, the country has been a major donor to the fund. Its absence had caused surprise in global health circles when other leaders pledged $14.25 billion on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September.

Other G7 countries increased their donations given the unprecedented need after the pandemic disrupted efforts to address other pressing health needs.

“This fund gives hope and opportunity to millions who would otherwise suffer,” said Andrew Mitchell, the UK’s development minister.

The Global Fund welcomed the funding, but advocacy groups said it was not enough.

“The UK has been a leader in the global response to these infectious diseases for decades, but no more,” Mike Podmore, director of STOPAIDS, said in a statement.

This article has been amended to correct an incorrect suggestion that the £1bn overspending was 5.5% rather than 0.55% of GDP.