Scandal: British Foreign Aid Budget Seven Times Bigger than NHS Deficit
In yet another example of how British people are put last by the ruling regime, new figures have revealed that the British Government’s foreign aid budget is seven times bigger than the National Health Service Deficit.
A ‘revised spending budget’ released this month by the Department for International Development (DFID), which falls under Secretary of State for International Development Douglas Alexander’s office, shows that the foreign aid budget for 2009/10 was £6.8 billion, rising to £7.7 billion in 2010/11.
As shocking as these figures are, the DFID announcement has deliberately understated the figures, hiding the true cost with an administrative trick. The figures they announced are only the direct aid programme, and not the total cost, which is called the ‘Gross Public Expenditure on Development’ (GPEX) – and adds nearly £2 billion each year to total DFID expenditure.
For example, the GPEX in 2007/08 amounted to £6.027m, of which £5.2 billion was direct aid. The GPEX for 2006/07 was £7.4 billion, of which £4.9 billion was direct aid, and the GPEX for 2005/06 was £6.6 billion, of which £4.4 billion was direct aid.
All of this contrasts with the NHS deficit, which according to estimates, comes in at around £1.3 billion, or seven times as small as the latest foreign aid figures.
DFID spending in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to grow to £3.4 billion by 2010/11, according to their press statement.
British taxpayers have recently funded the following projects, according to the DFID:
- An additional £10 million to help over 2 million people displaced by fighting in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan, bringing British aid this year to a total of £22 million;
- Several million pounds for a television series called The Team in Kenya which shows how “a new Kenyan soccer/football club learn to deal with their tribal, ethnic, social and economic divisions.”
- £28 million for “improved food security for Afghans.” This is in addition to the £17 million already provided for “emergency food to those in need.” It also does not include the £2 million given to the ‘Afghanistan Vouchers for Increased Production in Agriculture’ (AVIPA) programme which uses vouchers to distribute wheat seed and fertiliser to farmers across 14 provinces in that country.
- On 17 May 2009, the DFD gave “a further £5 million in aid to Sri Lanka” for food aid, bringing the total given this year to that country to £12.5 million. The DFID has already allocated £2.5 million of humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka in September 2008. A further £2.5 million was allocated in January 2009. An additional £2.5 million was allocated in April 2009.
- On 15 May 2009, the DFID announced a new £18 million fund to boost the discovery of effective treatments for tropical diseases, in particular the tsetse fly “sleeping sickness” which is prevalent in Africa.
- On 16 November 2008 the DFID announced a new £220 million fund for research projects to develop new products to prevent and treat HIV, TB and Malaria and other tropical diseases.
Countries which receive more that £20 million in foreign aid from the British taxpayer are as follows:
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chad, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Malawi, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Poland, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, St Helena, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen and Zambia.
In addition, the following ‘Regional Aid Plans’ also are subsidised by the British taxpayer via the DFID:
- The Africa Conflict Prevention Pool (ACPP);
- The Latin America Regional Assistance Plan;
- The Middle East and Africa Regional Assistance Plan;
- The Caribbean Regional Assistance Plan;
- The Central Asia South Caucasus and Moldova Regional Assistance Plan;
- The Western Balkans Regional Assistance Plan.
All of these aid packages can be reviewed on the DFID website here.
The British National Party’s foreign policy is one of putting British interests first. Only once poverty and deprivation amongst British people has been eliminated, can any thought be given to foreign aid. Read the BNP’s foreign policy in full here.
