No need for‘populist’cut in aid

FOREIGN AID spending could ease global warminglinked extreme weather in the UK, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles suggested yesterday.

Mr Pickles said if global warming is true then the Government’s “sustainable aid” could have an effect on what happens in the UK.

He dismissed the UK Independence Party’s call for foreign aid money to be diverted to help British flood victims as a “populist hit”, adding the response in Somerset did not need the extra cash.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage had said it was “basic common sense” to suspend international aid while the country was dealing with the aftermath of recent extreme weather.

Asked what he made of remarks to deploy foreign aid to help with the floods, Mr Pickles told Murnaghan on Sky News: “Well, I think it’s an easy hit, it’s a kind of a populist hit.

“We will be able to do all this without having to touch the aid budget and if it is true...then aid we’re offering in other parts of the world could well have an effect in terms of the things that happen in this country.”

Told it was a bit of a stretch to suggest overseas money might help people on the Somerset Levels, Mr Pickles replied: “Our aid is pretty much targeted to help people in the greatest need.

“It’s well targeted in dealing with infection and inoculation but I think it’s possible to be able to offer help to people throughout the world, the poorest, without it taking anything away from the people of Somerset.”

The River Thames burst its banks and flooded roads and property in Chertsey, Surrey.

Pictures: PA. Ukip leader Nigel Farage in the floodwater at Burrowbridge.

Andrew Marr, left, and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles on BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show.