Mad rules that stop us sending aid to British hurricane victims axed
PRITI Patel last night hailed ‘significant’ changes to international rules which will allow UK aid cash to be sent to hurricanestricken British territories.
There was uproar after it emerged that money from the Government’s bloated foreign aid budget could not go to our territories flattened by Hurricane Irma in September.
rules set by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development – and agreed by its member states – mean Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos islands were deemed too wealthy to qualify as aid recipients.
But yesterday International Development Secretary Miss Patel won a significant concession at a Paris summit of OECD members.
Member states agreed to allow countries who would not normally qualify to receive aid in the event of a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
However, the rules are not retrospective, so do not apply to cash already spent by the Government on the Caribbean relief effort.
Last night Miss Patel hailed the change as a ‘real step forward’.
‘UK leadership has secured significant and important changes to the international aid rules, as we committed to in our manifesto,’ she said. ‘As a result of our influence, we’ve made huge progress on ensuring official development assistance can be used when vulnerable nations are struck by crises or natural disasters.
‘Progress on this, and the other reforms we have confirmed today – including boosting aid for UN peacekeeping missions – show that by working patiently and constructively with our partners we are able to drive through change and modernise the rules.’
Miss Patel had asked countries for a three-year dispensation to allow the millions spent on relief efforts to qualify against Britain’s aid target. Last month, the Mail revealed that defence chiefs face a £50 million bill for the relief effort. But as the rules currently stand, they will not get a penny from the £13 billion foreign aid pot.
The royal Navy launched an unprecedented relief effort, with more than 2,000 personnel deployed to the Caribbean alongside its flagship HMS Ocean.
Under existing OECD rules, the British Overseas Territories are deemed too wealthy. Bizarrely, the rules do not take account of the impact on islanders’ standard of living in the event of a catastrophic hurricane. The £5million handed to another island in the region, Dominica, does qualify as foreign aid. MPs have demanded that ministers ignore the rules and raid the aid budget. They argue the only consequence would be a statement to Parliament to explain why the target wasn’t formally hit.
In her Tory Party conference speech, Prime Minister Theresa May said it was ‘absurd’ that aid cash could not be used to help those affected by the hurricane.
Mrs May said: ‘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.’
As well as rules on relief spending, a larger slice of sums spent on UN peacekeeping missions will also count towards the aid target.
The percentage of contributions to UN peacekeeping missions that count as aid will rise from 7 per cent to 15 per cent, officials said.