Britain spent £623million on foreign aid last year

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Britain spent £623million on foreign aid last year… to fund projects including wiping out giant mice on an island in the Atlantic and rebuilding a mosque in Egypt

  • Britain’s foreign aid budget soared to a record £15.2billion in 2019 – up 4.3% 
  • UK paid 1 out of every £8 in foreign aid given by 29 major countries, figures show
  • Britain’s aid budget has more than doubled from the £7.3billion spent in 2009

By John Stevens Deputy Political Editor For The Daily Mail

Published: | Updated:

Britain’s foreign aid budget soared £623million to a record £15.2billion in 2019 – up 4.3 per cent, it emerged yesterday.

The nation paid £1 out of every £8 in foreign aid given by 29 major countries, figures reveal.

None of the other most developed G7 nations of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the US met the global target of 0.7 per cent of national income on foreign aid.

In fact, Britain gave more than twice the G7 average of 0.29 per cent. The US is the world’s biggest aid donor in cash terms, but its £27.1billion contribution is just 0.16 per cent of its national income.

The international Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development rules on what counts as official development assistance. But only five of its 30 development assistance committee (DAC) members – Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and the UK – met or exceeded 0.7 per cent last year.

A la cart: Shali in Egypt, where a mosque was rebuilt. Britain paid £1 out of every £8 in foreign aid given by 29 major countries, figures reveal

None of the other most developed G7 nations of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the US met the global target of 0.7 per cent of national income on foreign aid

None of the other most developed G7 nations of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the US met the global target of 0.7 per cent of national income on foreign aid

By comparison, Australia spends just 0.22 per cent of its national income on aid, with Canada on 0.27 per cent, Japan on 0.29 per cent and Spain on 0.21 per cent. Italy gives 0.24 per cent and France only 0.44 per cent.

Turkey, which is not a member of the DAC, gave 1.15 per cent.

… and where your cash went 

  • A mosque in Shali in Egypt has been rebuilt using British foreign aid, and more than £830,000 was spent in Turkey, a member of the G20 group of the world’s richest nations. Projects funded there included £50,467 to document rock carvings.
  • Giant mice are being wiped out on an uninhabited volcanic island in the Atlantic using more than £1.5million in aid. Experts want to kill every mouse on Gough Island to protect one of the world’s most important seabird nest sites. At least two million chicks are lost annually to the mice, which are 50 per cent bigger than house mice.
  • Britain has increased foreign aid spending in China and India, which can both afford to send rockets to the Moon. Projects included £1.1million to cut the amount of salt the Chinese eat, and on text alerts to tackle problem drinking in India.

 

Although most of Britain’s foreign aid is distributed by the Department for International Development, other ministries use it, too.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy spent £951million last year – an increase of £101million on 2018.

The Home Office gave £452million, up £115million on the year before, thanks to a rise in spending to support asylum seekers.

Britain’s aid budget has more than doubled from the £7.3billion spent in 2009 and has more than quadrupled from the £3.3billion handed out in 2002. The UK has met the 0.7 per cent target every year since 2013.

Foreign aid is calculated according to the UK’s gross national income, which reached £2.2trillion last year.

The impact of coronavirus on the economy is likely to make aid spending fall this year for the first time since 2007.

The Commons international development committee began an inquiry last month into the effectiveness of the billions spent by the UK on foreign aid. The budget has faced criticism, with questions over the legitimacy of projects and whether they make a lasting difference.

The Department for International Development spent £11.1billion (73.2 per cent) of the foreign aid money last year.

The Mail revealed this year how the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport – which spent £13million last year, up from £9million in 2018 – is using cash intended to help the world’s poorest to protect heritage sites and traditions in the Middle East and Africa. Projects funded include restoring a rock-salt mosque in Shali, Egypt.

The DCMS also spends around £300,000 a year in aid on the upkeep of Marlborough House, the royal palace used as offices by Commonwealth Secretary General Baroness Scotland.

The National Audit Office has warned that no one tracks whether aid is spent properly.