MAGNIFICENT 10,000 DAILY EXPRESS READERS SIGN PETITION DEMANDING ACTION

A PETITION demanding the Government urgently acts to end Britain’s foreign aid madness has now topped 10,000 signatures.

Daily Express reader Robert Barnes used the official UK Government website to plead for some of the swollen budget to ease pressure on the NHS, elderly services and adult social care.

But it needs at least 100,000 signatures to trigger a Parliamentary debate and potentially force a change in the law that sees 0.7 per cent of our national income spent on foreign aid every year.

Mr Barnes, 52, of Oldham, Lancs, teamed up with the Express after becoming frustrated that frontline services in the UK are suffering as £13.3billion a year goes overseas.

He said: “I would like to thank Daily Express readers for their magnificent support for this petition. However, this is just the start.

“I urge people to share this petition with family, friends and in work places. This is your money so people must make their voices heard loud and clear. It is time to stop the foreign aid madness.”

Married Mr Barnes, a council officer, is one of 75,000 readers who have signed up to our crusade by sending in coupons or adding their support on our website.

The growing pressure comes as the Royal College of Physicians warned Chancellor Philip Hammond about concerns over the capacity and resources needed to meet demands on the NHS.

The fears were voiced in a letter signed by college president Professor Jane Dacre and 55 council members, representing 34,000 doctors across 30 specialities.

Meanwhile John O’Connell of the Tax Payers’ Alliance said the “randomly chosen” aid target had seen hundreds of millions wasted without helping the world’s needy.

To add your support visit petition. parliament.uk/petitions/200292