£1.5million mouse trap
That’s the cost of ridding deserted isle of vermin as PM is put on spot over aid budget
including training ‘local heritage professionals’ to take 3D images of them, £25,000 on a project in Afghanistan to restore paintings damaged by the Taliban and £53,310 on preserving traditional food culture in Sudan by researching and documenting recipes.
As overseas development spending has increased over the years, departments across Whitehall have been drafted in to help dish out the money. The UK’s foreign aid budget rose £493million in 2018 to reach £14.6billion, with more than a fifth spent by departments other than Dfid. In June, the National Audit Office warned so many different parts of Whitehall were doling out the cash that no one was tracking whether it was being spent properly. It found that the sums going to ‘upper middle income’ countries had risen over the past four years despite promises to target the poorest.
Save The Children yesterday said the Mail’s revelations showed why it would be a mistake for the Prime Minister to scrap Dfid. Simon Wright, its director of global policy, said: ‘Dfid is good at targeting aid to the poorest countries. Other Government departments are not.’
A Defra spokesman said last night: ‘The British
Overseas Territory of Gough Island is considered one of the most important seabird nesting sites in the world. But the invasive mice on the island eat the albatross chicks alive in their nests and lead to around two million fewer chicks a year.
‘The RSPB project will be essential in saving the endangered birds on the island.
‘We will keep investing and working with partners to defend biodiversity at home and abroad – supporting local communities and protecting endangered species.’