Foreign Office to take over controversial aid department to bring spending in line with foreign policy
THE Foreign Office is set to swallow up the controversial aid office under a radical shake-up. Boris Johnson is likely to delight his backbenchers by putting the FCO in charge of aid spending and bringing it in line with foreign policy. It comes after the Department for International Development was repeatedly blasted after its budget […]
THE Foreign Office is set to swallow up the controversial aid office under a radical shake-up.
Boris Johnson is likely to delight his backbenchers by putting the FCO in charge of aid spending and bringing it in line with foreign policy.
It comes after the Department for International Development was repeatedly blasted after its budget swelled to £14.6billion.
It has handed £151million to China and India even though both are wealthy enough to run space programmes.
The PM’s own experience as Foreign Secretary has left him convinced that the two departments should become one, says Sun columnist James Forsyth.
But even if the ministries join, the government will remain committed to spending 0.7 per cent of the nation’s annual cash income on foreign aid.
PM press secretary Rob Oxley is set to oversee the project, and is working with the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.
Mr Oxley is rewarded for helping Mr Johnson and senior adviser Dominic Cummings on the Vote Leave Campaign.
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The PM has been under pressure to improve how Britain spends foreign aid after its budget rose £493million in 2018 to reach £14.6billion for the first time.
But last year 100 aid charities urged the PM not to merge the departments.
A letter issued by Bond, the UK international development network, said the move risked “dismantling” UK leadership on humanitarian aid, and “suggests we are turning our backs on extreme poverty, climate change and conflict”.
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