Crazy aid rules leave military with £50m hurricane relief bill
As cash-strapped Navy faces losing ability to fight on beaches...
DEFENCE chiefs face a £50 million bill for helping UK territories devastated by Hurricane Irma – but will not get a penny from the foreign aid pot. The Royal Navy launched an unprecedented relief effort after Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos islands were devastated last month.
As thousands of homes were left without roofs, electricity and water, more than 2,000 military personnel were deployed to the Caribbean alongside the navy’s flagship HMS Ocean.
But now the Ministry of Defence has been landed with the massive bill for the rescue operation – because international rules prevent the money being reimbursed from the £13 billion foreign aid budget. The British Overseas Territories are deemed too wealthy, according to criteria set by the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD).
It comes amid fears the Navy could lose its capability to ‘fight on beaches’ if HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, two specialist landing ships, are taken out of service under cost-cutting proposals.
Last night Tory MPs said the Department for International Development (Dfid) should be made to pick up the tab, as they hit out at rules governing how the controversial budget is spent.
Tory MP Andrew Rosindell said: ‘We have a colossal Dfid budget and it is outrageous that money cannot be used for disaster relief in this situation. Instead the bill is being paid for by the Ministry of Defence. That cannot be right and it highlights the need for radical change to the way we operate our overseas aid budget.’
Fellow Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg added: ‘Dfid money clearly ought to be used to help the British Virgin Islands.’
Last year, the UK spent £13 billion on foreign aid under the Government’s pledge to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on international development.
But under OECD rules, aid spending counts towards the target only if it is used in eligible countries which are deemed poor enough. While some UK territo- ries are on the list, the three affected by Irma are not.
In her party conference speech on Wednesday, Prime Minister Theresa May said it was ‘absurd’ that aid cash could not be used to help those affected by the hurricane. After reaffirming her commitment to keeping the 0.7 per cent target, she said: ‘But let me also be clear: it is absurd that international organisations say we can’t use the money to help all those that have been hit by the recent hurricanes in the British Overseas Territories.
‘Many people on those islands have been left with nothing. And if we must change the rules on international aid in order to recognise the particular needs of these communities when disaster strikes, then that’s what we will do.’
Speaking at a fringe event at the conference on Tuesday, Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said the rules must be changed so money spent on the hurricane did not come out of his budget.
He said: ‘It is extraordinary that the military aid we have been able to give to the Caribbean, all that aid we gave after the hurricane, is not classified as overseas development assistance.
‘ We do need to continue to improve those rules so more of what is quite clearly humanitarian relief and not an armed operation can be properly classified.’
International Development Secretary Priti Patel last month wrote to the OECD’s development assistance committee calling for the current rules to be torn up, but she has so far been ignored.
After Hurricane Irma hit last
‘This cannot be right’ ‘They worked incredibly hard’
month, defence chiefs sent HMS Ocean, Britain’s biggest operational warship, to help provide relief. Last night, the governor of the British Virgin Islands praised the ‘phenomenal’ dedication of the British troops.
Gus Jaspert said he had awarded the entire UK military taskforce a badge of honour. ‘They came, first off, incredibly rapidly – they were here within a short period.’
He said the troops offered a ‘huge sense of community reassurance’, adding: ‘They worked incredibly hard. Their dedication was phenomenal. There is a huge appreciation for what they have done.’