- Cut Foreign Aid Budget to 0.35% GDP
- Deploy Manpower Instead of Money
- Stop Imposing our ‘Democracy’ on others
Foreign Aid
Have you ever thought about all the times we faced terrorist attacks before we started giving developing countries handouts? Or how many illegal immigrants came to the UK before we handed out our hard earned tax money?
Corrolation doesn’t always equal causation, but there is a pattern worthy of investigation isn’t there?
I would reduce our foreign aid budget. Currently 0.5% of GDP and soon to be increased back to its previous level of 0.7% GDP down to 0.35%. That’s £7 Billion a year down from £14 Billion. This would save us more than half of the National Insurance increase in April 2022.
Most of our foreign aid doesn’t ever reach the people it is intended for & only lines the pockets of foreign rulers and dictators.
We provide aid to China among others. A country that has a space programme. We can’t afford our own space programme.
Instead, I would commit to providing our military as support for disasters worldwide as required. Boots, food and medicine on the ground direct to those who need it when required.
I would also support a compulsory gap year for all 18 year olds to work for a charity abroad and this could be funded using a portion of the existing foreign aid budget.
This would broaden young minds and let our youngsters help to build schools, teach children, dig wells, install irrigation, plant crops and contribute to help in some of the most impoverished countries around the world.
As part of a rounded education I also think this would help the next generation to realise how fortunate they are to live in one of the greatest Countries on Earth.
I’m all for giving to charity. I donate to several charities that I am close to, but, I only donate spare money I have. I firstly put food on my table, pay my utility bills, put fuel in my car etc and then with what’s left over I decide what to do with it.
Our government appears to have an opposite view. Pensioners struggle to stay warm, homeless numbers increase, foodbank use increases, national debt increases, but before we deal with any of that, we as a country give away £14 billion in foreign aid. It isn’t sustainable. I understand the sentiment, but we can’t adequately look after our own population, let alone throw money we don’t have at misguided projects that don’t appreciate it.
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Foreign Policy
We can’t look after the citizens of the UK adequately and yet we get involved around the world as a priority. Opponents to this strategy will say that by intervening in foreign affairs we are helping to protect the UK from further illegal immigration, economic migrants etc. But, economic migration has grown exponentially since we got involved with Afganistan, Iraq, Syria, etc.
Attempting to impose our version of democracy on countries that don’t really want it has proved to be a costly and pointless exercise.
Regardless of our good intentions, many people in the countries that we get involved with resent our ‘assistance’. Many of the terrorist atrocities we have faced have been inspired by our initial actions abroad. Maybe we are creating the extremists that seek to harm us?
While we arguably have a moral duty to protect the persecuted, I would venture to suggest that our current strategy for doing so is not working & is actually increasing the risk for our citizens.
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