Should We Stop Giving Foreign Aid?

[The_DADDY]

The country is skint.

There isn't enough housing, schools, hospitals, prisons, Ex forces personnel forced to live in the streets etc etc etc......

Yet we give Billions away in foreign aid. Should we stop doing this until we get our own house in order first?

Sure we can still give disaster relief when disasters happen but routinely giving away stacks of cash?

No. It needs to stop in my humble opinion. 

 

Your thoughts?

[Al Bundy]

We ain't daft, we help them and further down the line we get contracts.

 

 

[YorkieontheTyne]

Good point The DADDY. I support several charities, 3 are in my will. But I won’t contribute if the charity supports “good causes” abroad. That old adage charity begins at home rings true with me.

[Pyrotequila]

17 minutes ago, Al Bundy said:

We ain't daft, we help them and further down the line we get contracts.

 

This is probably why we send aid. Countries are more likely to be friendly with countries that "help" them.

 

As frustrating as it is that we send aid to countries that don't need any.

Countries with their own space programs and nuclear weapons for example.

[hackey lad]

30 minutes ago, The_DADDY said:

The country is skint.

There isn't enough housing, schools, hospitals, prisons, Ex forces personnel forced to live in the streets etc etc etc......

Yet we give Billions away in foreign aid. Should we stop doing this until we get our own house in order first?

Sure we can still give disaster relief when disasters happen but routinely giving away stacks of cash?

No. It needs to stop in my humble opinion. 

 

Your thoughts?

Yes .

[El Cid]

Press release
UK government support for developing countries to tackle climate change

New £160 million funding to help reduce emissions and lower costs in developing countries.

From:
    Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, The Rt Hon Claire Coutinho MP and The Rt Hon Graham Stuart MP
Published  21 September 2023

 

I wonder if that is part of the aid budget, it looks like they are announcing more spending. Is it just like me putting £5 in the charity box?

 

[cressida]

Certainly reduce it.

[gaz 786]

1 hour ago, The_DADDY said:

The country is skint.

There isn't enough housing, schools, hospitals, prisons, Ex forces personnel forced to live in the streets etc etc etc......

Yet we give Billions away in foreign aid. Should we stop doing this until we get our own house in order first?

Sure we can still give disaster relief when disasters happen but routinely giving away stacks of cash?

No. It needs to stop in my humble opinion. 

 

Your thoughts?

Yes charity begins at home .

[peak4]

None of this of course is as simple as it seems. Something in the order of 27% of the Foreign Aid budget is spent on asylum seeker's accommodation & food in the UK whilst they await processing. I wonder who the actual recipients are and how much of their profit goes straight into offshore tax havens.
This one happens to be from the Guardian, as it avoids paywalls, though there are plenty of other sources.

Spending foreign aid budget on refugees in UK is ‘wreaking havoc’, says watchdog
Government’s aid watchdog says Foreign Office taking ‘financial hit’ for Home Office overspending

The UK government’s decision to use the overseas aid budget to pay for supporting refugees in Britain is “wreaking havoc” with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s development partnerships, an official government watchdog said on Wednesday after it was revealed that £4.3bn was diverted to support refugees in 2023.

The actual documentation is here;
The UK aid budget and support for refugees in the UK in 2022/23     House of Commons Library, and has updates for later years

Companies providing housing for UK asylum seekers make £113m profit Guardian again
Combined profits of Clearsprings Ready Homes and Stay Belvedere Hotels prompt criticism from refugee charities

Two private companies supplying accommodation for asylum seekers to the Home Office have made a record combined profit of more than £113m, according to their most recently published accounts.

Clearsprings Ready Homes is one of three private companies that has contracts with the Home Office to provide asylum accommodation. It is the company’s sole business.

It made £62.5m in profits after tax for the year ending January 2023, more than double its profits of £28m the previous year.

 

[cuttsie]

We in the UK live like lords even the poorest among us , 

It is a different matter in other parts of the Planet , Some people have no running water , others not much food , others under  bent Leaders and Governments, Some women are little more than slaves having to cover up all parts of their bodies not being allowed education or a choice in who to marry etc.

Some kids in mostly African countries living with blindness or deformity , no one cares for them inc the corrupt so called leaders.

If a quid or two of my meagre O A pension can help then i will give it just the same as do for a homeless person sat on a pavement in Town,(take a walk in their life before you jump on the bandwagon )   . There but for the grace of life go al;l of us .