A HURRICANE FORCE FARCE
We can’t use £13bn foreign aid budget to help British islands devastated by Irma – because they’re ‘too wealthy’
UK territories devastated by Hurricane Irma do not qualify for help from the £ 13billion foreign aid budget because they are ‘too wealthy’.
International rules mean Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos islands cannot get handouts despite being flattened by the storm. Set by the Organisation for economic Cooperation and Development, the rules are blamed for hampering the relief effort in the islands.
India and China, which have booming economies, would be ‘poor’ enough to receive help, however. North Korea is also on the OeCD’s approved list. The Government has committed £57million for disaster relief for islands hit by hurricane Irma – but this must be found from separate funds and Whitehall departments.
One minister said the islands could have received five times as much cash
had they been allowed official foreign aid. Downing Street said Theresa May was frustrated by the international rules.
Tory MP Philip Davies said: ‘It is absolutely ridiculous that we cannot use any of our bloated overseas aid budget to help British overseas territories devastated by the hurricane.
‘You couldn’t make it up that an overseas territory doesn’t qualify for overseas aid. Surely the Government will see sense and stop this madness and take control of taxpayers’ money and spend it on our priorities.’
A ministerial source said: ‘It is totally mad. We have a £13billion development budget, but the definition of how we can spend it is ridiculous.
‘The rules do not allow development spending on these islands because they are not considered poor enough. Well, they bloody well are now.
‘It is completely immoral and a lot of people are saying we should just ignore the rules and spend the money.’
The three British overseas territories were in the path of the monster hurricane, which claimed scores of lives and left thousands homeless.
Known as Official Development Assistance, foreign aid is supposed to help the poorest countries fight poverty and fund development.
Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos are deemed too wealthy, according to strict criteria set by the OECD. Repairing damage in the region also does not qualify for aid.
Yet foreign aid has been used to cut smoking in China and keep homes in India cool. Both countries have space programmes and nuclear weapons.
Aid money has also been spent on an Ethiopian version of the Spice Girls and a project to create a 3D model of a Tunisian palace. All these schemes met the definition of aid spending.
A Government source insisted it was ‘ absolute nonsense’ to claim that OECD rules had been a factor in the UK’s response, adding: ‘The response to Irma would have been the same and just as quick.’
However, a source said officials were looking at how overseas aid rules applied to natural disasters. Nigel Evans, a Tory member of the International Development Committee and Tory MP for the Ribble Valley, said: ‘This is an international disaster requiring immediate aid. This ticks all the boxes. Bureaucrats can argue as much as they like but this is an humanitarian crisis that has cost lives and people’s livelihoods.’
The UK has committed to spend 0.7 per cent of gross national income on aid since 2013. This was made law in 2015 under David Cameron, but Mrs May promised to look again at the definition after criticism of the £13billion budget.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson visited the islands yesterday to meet survivors and survey the damage. He flew out after French president Emmanuel Macron and the Dutch king visited their citizens in the region.
British relief efforts have been criticised as ‘absolutely pathetic’ in comparison with those of France and the Netherlands. Mr Johnson promised more cash.