Overseas aid

[kestrelg]

In a recent news item it was stated that the British government "donates several hundred millions of pounds a year in aid to India" and went on to say that if the Tories were elected they would not change it..
My question is " If so much is given to India is there any way of finding out what is the overall total we donate to the rest of the world"

[Gromit]

http://www.dfid.gov.uk/

[Gromit]

http://www.dfid.gov.u...orlds-poorest-people/

[R1Geezer]

Now we're a bit skint, can they give us some back?

[I.Don No]

Overseas aid is donated to other countries by our government i.e. us, the taxpayer. Therefore the recipient governments do not need to provide as much for their own citizens. Of course I am not against helping other people out but why do we keep seeing all those adverts to help underprivileged children in those countries?

Is it because
1. the money is not getting through to the right people
2. the money, if it gets through to the right people, is not being spent in an efficient manner
3. native millionaires don't give a bu88er ?

imho I think we should sort out our own backyard a bit better first. There are children in this country who do not live the life they should.

[sp1814]

I.Don No

There are plenty of UK based charities dedicated to supporting and protecting children in this country.

But to be honest, even the poorest kid in Britain is laughing compared to a child who's parents have both been killed in tsunami/civil war/earthquake/famine.

You know - the children who have to walk five miles a day to find water...the kind of water we wouldn't even use to wash our driveways.

I suspect that they wouldn't mind swapping their lives to the lives of many of our underprivileged.

[kestrelg]

Many thanks to Gromit, I felt that this information should be available but was unable to trace it .
It really is an eye opener and I need to give it a lot of thought before commenting but it does beg the question " Are we borrowing from the world banks and getting into debt to give this money away ?'

[anotheoldgit]

The three Chancellors did not give a very optimistic view of the future, there are going to be cuts, cuts, cuts.

Well before they start making cuts they should first start and think what cuts can be made that will not harm the tax-payer too much.

Well overseas aid should be the first, if we haven't got it we can't give it away.

Then we should withdraw all our troops from Afghanistan, if we can't afford to get that country into the 21st century, then save the money and come out.

Then we should enforce a strict immigration policy, the savings here would be immense.

Have a hard look into how the benefits bill can be reduced, by getting those that can work, back to work.

Finely we should seriously consider holding a referendum to come out of Europe, if this is not possible at least try and renegotiate the amount of cash the UK puts in the kitty.

[VHG]

While we are giving money to India I notice the Indian goverment has decided to give their Space Research Organization about 58 BILLION RUPEES (about 1.5 BILLION US DOLLARS) in 2010, a 38 percent increase over last year.

http://www.space.com/...crease-sn-100315.html

So while we go into massive debt, we can still give money to India.

It does annoy me that on Sports Relief last week they showed Indian people scavaging on rubbish tips and sleeping rough, and expected US to send in our money.

Yet they can throw MILLIONS at their space program.

[Gromit]

// Well overseas aid should be the first, if we haven't got it we can't give it away. //

The problem is, if you cut say libraries, they have less new books, if you cut overseas aid, people die.

[modeller]

AOG There is no point in trying to get a rebate from the EU despite the fact we get
the least and France gets the most . Maggie Thatcher got a rebate and along
came Blair and gave £one billion away again, and we got nothing in return.

[Everhelpful]

I don't often agree with AOG,but I am with him on this one. VHG makes a great point,also.

[Zeuhl]

I'm not positive about this but i think a proportion of the aid is given 'in kind' not cash.

So British firms are being paid to supply goods or services in india which obviously has a benefit for them and their employees.

[rov1200]

Now compare that table with how much countries spend on military defence. India is in the top 10.

http://en.wikipedia.o...military_expenditures

[VHG]

>Now compare that table with how much countries spend on military defence. India is in the top 10.

According to that list we spend more than Russia !

Maybe it is to pay for all the pampered Admirals and Major Generals we have (or whatever the top brass is called).

[northernmonkey]

Before considering Donating anything to other Countries, maybe the Goverment should get their priorities right -
Assessing what can be done or urgently needs to be done in Britain that any money being used for "india" would benefit from - I could list a very very large number of things - this is one example of the shambles of the British Goverment - 1 thing that most people would be no doubt in agreement with me is - use the money on our Troops out there prepared to die for this country, they are people who really deserve the money - Ashamed to call myself British at times

[Quinlad]

A certain sort of people won't like it, but there are millions of people in this country who are more than happy to see some tax revenue spent on overseas aid. In fact, they demand it.

[northernmonkey]

All these illegal immigrants - get more support and help than british born and bred WHY?

[Zeuhl]

Anyone who is an 'illegal immigrant' does not qualify for any state benefits.

Sorry northernmonkey to spoil your ill-informed prejudices with the actual facts.