Stop discriminating against our aid charities, minister warns Brussels

PENNY Mordaunt has warned Brussels to stop discriminating against British aid charities. The International Development Secretary said the EU was refusing to award contracts to UK organisations providing relief in disaster zones.

She revealed British aid firms have had to wind up life-saving schemes in Somalia and Yemen because the intransigent EU has refused to fund them.

Others have been told to transfer projects which they have been running for years to European bodies. In a letter to the EU commissioner for humanitarian aid, Christos Stylianides, Miss Mordaunt reminded Brussels the UK is now set to remain a member of the EU until the end of October.

She said this meant British aid charities should be treated the same as those from any other member country.

And she said even when the UK has left, she hoped British aid organisations would still be able to apply for EU development funds. The EU spends £1.6billion a year on aid. An eighth of this budget is paid for by Britain. It forms part of Britain’s target to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on development.

Miss Mordaunt’s letter explained how UK aid organisations were finding it hard to access money from the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, one of the EU’s key aid budgets. Britain is to fund a multi-million-pound scheme to fight the illegal wildlife trade. Some £4.6million will be spent on action to combat poaching and protect species like marine turtles from being sold illegally. The money will come from a pot called the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund.