Patel pledges to ‘follow the money’ under new rules for UK foreign aid
EVERY pound of British aid spent abroad will be scrutinised, Priti Patel has announced, as she promised to “follow the money” to guard against waste and corruption.
Citing Margaret Thatcher’s famous remark that there is “no such thing as public money”, the Secretary of State for International Development also warned that any aid schemes deemed not to be delivering will be scrapped and those the UK does invest in should be “mutually beneficial”.
In an address to Conservative Party conference Ms Patel also sought to justify the amount of money the UK spends on aid, adding that if the country spent less on humanitarian support in Syria the migrant crisis across Europe would be far worse.
She said: “As Margaret Thatcher famously said: there’s no such thing as public money – it is taxpayers’ money. And when we open up budgets and let people see where the money is going, we can help root out corruption and ensure that resources reach the most vulnerable.
“When, last month, I announced new support for the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria – a fantastic institution that will save millions of lives in the coming years – I linked this funding directly to a new performance agreement.
“For the first time this sets out, in black and white, clear requirements for the Global Fund to use our money costeffectively, transparently, and with a proper focus on results and impact.”
Ms Patel, who campaigned for the UK to leave the European Union, added that the new direction will send “a clear message to the international aid community”.
She added: “If we can demand more from one of the best performing institutions… we are certainly going to demand much, much more from everyone else, too.”
Her speech also made the case for continuing to spend 0.7 per cent of GDP on international aid, warning that unless the UK commits to helping solve problems abroad, citizens will suffer at home.
The Cabinet minister said: “If we stand back and abandon countries that suffer from poverty and weak institutions, then not only do the people who live in those countries suffer, and not only do those countries become vulnerable to insecurity and terrorism, but the problems that they have, come closer to our shores.” Ms Patel added that if the UK wasn’t “leading the world” by spending large amounts on humanitarian assistance in Syria, “how many more people would already have risked the perilous journey across the Mediterranean?”. And she added that Baroness Thatcher’s policy on aid is “as true today as it was in 1981” and cited the former prime minister as saying: “We want to help as much as we can … we should help in ways which are mutually beneficial to both developing and developed countries. We all depend on one another for our prosperity.” She also pledged to spend £750 million on supporting Afghanistan over the next three years to keep the UK safe and “do justice to the sacrifices made by our brave Armed Forces”. Mark Goldring, chief executive of Oxfam GB, said: “Oxfam welcomes the announcement of extra aid to Afghanistan, one of the world’s poorest countries, which will help to save lives and ensure children can go to school.”