Hand back £172m spent by mistake, says ex-aid minister
FORMER international development secretary Andrew Mitchell last night joined demands for the department to pay back almost £200million of foreign aid.
The ministry yesterday admitted it had mistakenly spent £172million more than it should have done last year – with UK taxpayers’ money.
The huge amount was part of a £513million rise in foreign aid in 2015.
Several reports highlighted new alleged examples of the scandalous use of the money – including funds falling into the hands of jihadist rebels in Syria.
Mr Mitchell, development secretary between 2010 and 2012, said that news of DfID’s overspend would ‘antagonise taxpayers’. Liam Fox, the former defence secretary, also weighed in, demanding that the Government stop ‘spraying round’ so much in foreign aid.
The Government had already been criticised for locking Britain into a target of spending 0.7 per cent of gross national income (GNI) on aid – now worth around £12billion a year.
The revelation that spending has exceeded even this high level will further anger Tory backbenchers, given that most Whitehall departments are having to make stringent cuts.
They say the money should instead be targeted at helping people in Britain, such as steelworkers begging the
‘Ensure it doesn’t happen again’
Government for state support to save their plants.
It emerged yesterday that £200million of UK aid had been spent in Tanzania before its government allegedly rigged an election.
In addition, funds from a British aid programme set up to help restore vital infrastructure for civilians in war-torn areas of Syria has fallen into the hands of Islamist rebels linked to Al Qaeda.
Around £18,000 a year is going to two jailed Palestinians who stabbed a British woman and murdered her friend.
Mr Mitchell told Sky News: ‘ Even I wouldn’t argue that we should exceed the 0.7 per cent commitment which we have made … But if there has been an overspend that will have to be repaid from the budget this year and we should try and make sure that doesn’t happen again because it really antagonises taxpayers.’
He added: ‘At the end of the day, the 0.7 per cent commitment that British taxpayers are making, it has to be spent well and, of course, it has to be spent in creating safe, conflict-free and prosperous societies overseas and not in any way support migration.
‘The whole reason for the international development commitment made by the Coalition and confirmed by the Conservative government is to build prosperous and safe societies overseas.’
Figures sneaked out by DfID on Friday show ministers spent over their 0.7 per cent aid target in 2015 by £172million – money that could have been spent on jobs, homes, schools or hospitals in Britain – taking the total to a record-breaking £12.2billion.
Although the excess is only 0.01 per cent of GNI, the sheer scale of our national income means it is a vast amount.
Dr Fox pointed to what had happened in Tanzania, saying that International Development Secre- tary Justine Greening should follow a US decision to cancel aid to the African country, after accusing its government of a ‘pattern of actions’ to undermine democracy.
‘Countries need to earn support from the British taxpayer rather than us spraying money around until we hit 0.7 per cent,’ he told the Sunday Telegraph.
‘When there are clear breaches of political rights or human rights they will expect a response in terms of the aid we contribute. The fact that the US has reacted in such a strong way gives a very good signal. We should be reviewing our own contribution in the light of that.’
Reacting to the overspend, Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said: ‘There can be no more graphic example of the idiocy of setting such a fixed target. This overspend will anger taxpayers who do not want their money frittered away on politicians’ vanity.’
A Government spokesman said: ‘These are provisional statistics that will fluctuate and we’ll only know the final figure towards the end of the year.
‘As an example for both 2013 and 2014 the provisional estimate was revised down from 0.71 per cent to 0.7 per cent.
‘UK investment in overseas development is firmly in the UK’s own national interest. Aid goes only where it is most needed and where it will deliver the very best results for taxpayers’ money.’
ANOTHER week, another string of examples of how vast sums in foreign aid are being squandered on despots, terrorists and pointless vanity projects.
hundreds of millions to the corrupt Tanzanian government which recently rigged an election, £18,000 a year to the families of two jailed Palestinian terrorists who tried to murder a British woman and donations to Syria routinely siphoned off by Islamic State and Al Qaeda. The list of shame is seemingly endless.
For years the Mail has led the field in exposing these flagrant abuses, yet still the Prime Minister clings to his absurd commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of GDP every year on international development.
By 2020, that will amount to £14.2billion – up from £5.8billion in 2010 and £3million more than the entire budget of the home Office, which has to oversee antiterrorism, immigration and policing. It’s more money than DFID knows what to do with, which is why so much is wasted. And in a time of austerity, it’s more than Britain can afford.