May will use £750m aid cash to curb immigration

BRITAIN is to send hundreds of troops to Somalia and plough almost £750million of foreign aid into immigration hotspots, Theresa May announced last night.

In her first major foreign policy speech, the Prime Minister said the aim was to keep Britain safe from Islamist terrorists while reducing ‘unprecedented’ levels of migration to Europe and the UK.

The hundreds of millions of pounds of aid will be targeted on helping refugees in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Ethiopia and Somalia – rather than risk them making the journey to Europe instead.

At the same time, she committed the UK to send hundreds of troops to Somalia to help in the fight against the resurgent Al-Shabaab terror group.

Up to 30 military units, made up of between five and 15 soldiers each, will be deployed to what is one of the world’s most dangerous countries to train its security forces.

Number Ten said that, at any one time, there would be no more than 70 troops in a country notorious for the deaths of 18 US servicemen in the Black Hawk Down incident in 1993.

A senior No10 source said the aim of yesterday’s announcements, and Mrs May’s foreign policy in general, was guided by ‘how best to serve Britain’s interests’. She is determined to use Britain’s £12billion annual aid budget to protect the country from terrorism and regain control of our borders.

She also favours early intervention to deal with problems before they reach Britain’s shores, sources said.

Mrs May told the UN General Assembly in New York: ‘We must never forget that we stand here, at this United Nations, as servants of the men and women that we represent back at home.’

She said it was ‘vital’ that Britain helps to build the capacity of the Somalian security services against AlShabaab. The fanatical Islamist group has plotted a string of atrocities against UK targets, both at home and abroad, and was responsible for the attack on the Westgate shopping centre in Kenya which killed 67 people in 2013.

Mrs May restated her commitment to Britain spending 2 per cent of its GDP on defence and, controversially, 0.7 per cent of GDP in overseas aid.

Yesterday’s latest pledges on humanitarian aid for refugees – much of it targeted at Syria – take the total which has been spent since the crisis first erupted to £1.5billion.

Of the new money, around £660million will go into a general pot to fund humanitarian causes, mostly centred on Syria and neighbouring countries.

Mrs May said: ‘By ensuring a managed and controlled international migration response, and at the same time investing to tackle the underlying drivers of displacement and migration at source, we can reject isolationism and xenophobia, achieving better outcomes for all of our citizens and particularly for the most vulnerable.’ Comment – Page 16

IN a fine speech to the UN, Mrs May pledges to tackle the migration crisis at its roots, focusing foreign aid on improving conditions as close to migrants’ homes as safety allows.

This is surely the most humane way forward – as much for displaced peoples themselves and the post-war future of their homelands as for Britain and the rest of Europe, struggling to cope with unmanageable numbers.

For once, this could be overseas aid well spent.