Why Britain’s bill for foreign aid ‘is set to rise by £1bn’
FOREIGN aid will cost British taxpayers £1billion more than expected by the end of next year because the national income has risen, it was claimed last night.
Included in the Autumn Statement are new figures which suggest the economy’s size has increased in several areas, according to the Financial Times. Therefore so has the UK’s aid commitment, which is to pay 0.7 per cent of GDP.
The revelation is expected to trigger anger from Tory backbenchers, who are deeply opposed to increases to the aid budget while Britain is still struggling to pay off the deficit.
While other departments have seen their spending slashed over the past four years, foreign aid has been ring-fenced and was set to hit £12billion by the end of this year. Under the new calculations, it should rise to £12.4billion this year to meet the target – effectively giving the Department for International Development three weeks to spend another £400million.
Next year, the aid budget would have to increase by £550million to £12.75billion.
The findings come ahead of a vote in the Commons today in which Tory MPs will try to kill off a Bill to enshrine the foreign aid target in law so it must be followed by future governments. Last night, David Cameron conceded that the Bill may not get through and instead claimed it was more important that the UK gives this money to poor countries than pass laws about it.
It is a remarkable change of tone from the Prime Minister, who declared earlier this year that the massive increase to the foreign aid budget was his ‘ proudest achievement’ in government.
Cabinet ministers are not expected to attend the Commons vote, which was forced by the Liberal Democrats,
‘Borrowing so much money’
although all three parties officially support the Bill.
Philip Davies, the MP for Shipley, has tabled dozens of amendments to hold up the debate today. He said: ‘It is completely idiotic to be spending so much money abroad when we are borrowing so much money.’ If time runs out, the Bill will not be passed before the General Election. Even members of the Cabinet do not support the Bill, which Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond called ‘ bizarre’ when asked about it last month.
Figures released by the Office for Budget Responsibility, seen by the Financial Times newspaper, show the UK’s national income is around £60billion higher than expected for this year.
According to the newspaper, the OBR figures for 2015 increase the size of several economic sectors by £79billion – meaning an extra £550million in foreign aid, although the final figure is unknown. The budget for DFID has already been set for the next two years and it is understood other spending could be reclassified as ‘international development’.
Last night, a Treasury spokesman said: ‘The Autumn Statement confirmed that we will meet the 0.7 per cent aid target in 2014. The amount spent on aid in 2014/15 has not been changed.
The 2013 spending round set budgets for 2015/16, including maintaining ODA [ official development assistance, a way of measuring aid] funding at 0.7 per cent of GNI [gross national income] in 2015. We are confident that existing spending plans are consistent with our aid commitments.’